The Decay of Sin & The Master Builder
1 John 3:2 “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
Have you ever taken time to look at an abandoned house…I mean really up close? They can look rather intriguing from a distance. But the closer you get, the more you begin to see the decay. Windows might be broken out, letting the weather inside. And if the weather gets in, everything starts to decay. What once was a beautiful home, filled with love and life, becomes a shell, rotting from the inside out.
It’s kind of like sin. Sin takes a toll, doesn’t it? Oh, we start out sturdy, solid and beautiful, but the effects of steady sin weathers us. Sometimes the choices we make and the lives we choose to live wear us down over time and leave us battered and worn. The inner beauty we once had gives way to rot and ruin. Sin does that to us.
The window in the picture once framed a beautiful room. It protected it from the elements, yet it also let the light in so that the room was filled with the golden rays of the sun. And at night, in the darkness, it shone from the inside out so all could see its warmth and beauty.. But at some point, those living there left. Then, that window broke and what was once a barrier to the elements and a protector of the beauty within no longer worked. Now instead of a beautiful room, the glass is broken and lying on the ground, the curtains are shredded and the room inside is ruined by the elements. The floors and walls are weathered with rain and it is no longer a place of love and shelter.
There are so many analogies we could use. But, suffice it to say, we’re a lot like those houses, aren’t we? Oh, we may only leave our ‘window’ open but a crack, yet the weather of sin gets in and it slowly begins to destroy. It might not be much at first, but after time, it’s catastrophic. Even a small opening is enough for the Enemy to slowly creep in and begin to erode our foundation. Sin ruins. It ruins heavily, destructively and it’s not easily recovered from. We might not see the effects right away- that’s another deception of the Enemy. But the slow, steady influx of sin begins to rot our inner beauty into a dark, joyless heart that is in desperate need of God’s righteousness. Our holiness departs. We squelch the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit and we slowly decay.
Look at the picture again… and look through the window not at the room, but back out the other window to the sky! You can still see the light of day- not darkness! It’s a fresh new day on the other side of that window! You can see hope! You see, despite the decay happening inside, each day there is a new morning that surrounds this house.
Though it would take time and would come at a cost, this window and this room could be restored. God sees through our brokenness and provides redemption and restoration for anyone who asks! You see, God isn’t in the business of ‘redecorating’, He fully rehabilitates and restores. He renovates and brings us back to life. He sees the wreck that we are right now and the beauty that we will be once we allow Him to work in us.
Do you look at your son or daughter and see how their choices have caused damage and decay with the effects of sin? It hurts our hearts because we know what they once were and we long to see that inner beauty restored. But right now, all we can see is how the enemy has wreaked havoc. The disease of sin and selfishness has stripped away the beauty and left a mess. You know they ‘know’ the Truth, yet they’ve chosen to open their lives to everything else, and it shows.
Friends, be brave enough to see through the damage and believe in what God can do! He is the Master Builder! Just as someone who comes along and begins restorative work on that abandoned house, there is hope when God begins to work on us! We only see the house as it is now, but you know the Builder is at work and oh! It will be beautiful again!! Friends, that is how God can restore a life. Pray to that end. Trust in His skill. He’s the Carpenter. He’s the Creator. He’s the Great Physician. He can do artful work on even the most devastated life. He is Faithful and True and what He promises, He will do. “He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”” Revelation 21:5
Prayer for Restoration:
“Father, I pray in Jesus’ name that You would begin a restorative work on (name) today. Lord, bandage their spiritual wounds, clean out the damage in their life. Evict the things that don’t belong, tear out the rot and ruin and rebuild their life to reflect Your glory. I know (name) is made in Your image, but right now, they don’t reflect that. Lord, do a work in them. Renovate their heart. Restore their mind. Holy Spirit, I pray that You would sanctify them to obedience to Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:2) Lord, bring repentance and follow it with abundant grace and peace. May the joy of the Lord be (name)’s strength. Help (name) to forsake all others and follow You solely, completely, wholeheartedly. Lord, I know that You can do a work unlike anything I could ask or imagine. I pray that You would restore (name) today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Prayer for Protection:
Lord, I pray for (name) today. I know they love You, Lord. But I also know that as believers, we are all a target of the Enemy. Lord, I ask that You would do some maintenance on (name) today. Seal up any ‘cracks’ in their character or their life that would allow the enemy to get in and cause destruction. I pray that they would put on the full armor of God: the helmet of salvation to protect their mind from spiritual attack; the shield of faith to deflect the fiery darts of spiritual warfare; the sword of the Spirit to defend against attack; the belt of Truth to guard against deception and lies; the breastplate of righteousness to guard their heart from deception and from temptation that would lure their love away from You; and feet shod with the gospel, so that their life, their words and their actions would be a testimony to others (Ephesians 6:10-18) . Help them to live without compromise and to daily take stock of what they choose to watch, read, and listen to so that nothing sneaks in and begins to weaken and destroy. Lord, I pray that you would guard them from ‘sneak attacks’ by the enemy. Make their foundation solid and their protection sure. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Do you have a loved one who needs prayer? Feel free to reach out! Leave a comment or send an email. There is an army of sisters in Christ who are ready and willing to pray along with you!
Pray without ceasing, friend. And believe that God can restore a life!
No One Saw What Went on Inside the Fish.
Read Jonah, Chapter 2
Jonah was thrown overboard in the midst of a raging storm at sea and the storm stopped, completely. God used the storm to get Jonah right where he wanted him. Jonah hit the water and the next thing he knew, he was swallowed whole by a giant fish, perhaps a whale. The species doesn’t matter. But no one expected to see Jonah alive again.
Did the sailors see Jonah sink below the surface and disappear? Did they see the fish swallow him? We don’t know; Scripture doesn’t say. What we do know is that Jonah was swallowed and God used Jonah’s ‘capture’ to do a work in his heart. Here’s the thing, no one saw what went on inside the fish. There Jonah was, in the belly of the fish…alive, yet surely doomed...a least by human understanding. But God saw him. God knew exactly where he was and, he was exactly where God wanted him.
Jonah 2:1 “From inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.” Jonah prayed. That’s the first time in the record that Jonah prayed. He didn’t pray when the Lord told him to go to Nineveh. He didn’t pray when he was on the ship. He didn’t pray in the storm or when he was confronted with his culpability for the storm and the lives at risk. No, it wasn’t until Jonah could no longer run, that he prayed.
And here’s the thing…no one saw what went on inside the fish. It was between God and Jonah. Spectators were not required. The opinions of others did not matter. No one needed to weigh in on the process to provide guidance or approval. Sometimes God needs to take us to a place in life where all we can do is depend on Him- there is no other way out.
Jonah knew, keenly, that he was at the mercy of his Almighty God.. His prayer is one of confession, humility and acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty and might.
In his distress, he calls to the Lord for help, and he’s confident God hears him (v. 2)
Sometimes God allows our sons and daughters need to experience distress so they will call out to Him
He acknowledges God put him in this desperate situation; He threw him into the ‘deep end’ where he was unable to help himself. (v. 3)
God allows desperate situations. We don’t like to see them, but we need to trust Him. It’s all within His power to control and resolve. We are not the ‘lifeguard’, God is.
Jonah knew he was in a ‘no way out’ situation- threatened by the waters, surrounded by the deep and sinking to the ‘roots of the mountains’, and totally dependent on the mercy and grace of God (v. 5-6)
What will it take for our sons and daughters to recognize that without God, they are lost, doomed, sinking into the depths? Are we willing to allow God to bring them to that place?
Verse 7 “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.”
It wasn’t until Jonah was in a no-way-out situation, his death was imminent, that he humbled himself before the Lord. Psalm 139:16 “All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before any of them came to be.” All the days ordained… the life of our sons and daughters is well-within the hand of the Lord, even if they are not surrendered to Him. Unless it’s the day God ordained for them to die, they will not. He is capable of sustaining them through even the most dire situation and use that to turn their hearts.. Do we trust Him?
Jonah repented. He surrendered to God. verse 9 says, “What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord.” And once Jonah repented, God completed the rescue, and gave Jonah a second chance to obey.
Jonah’s rescue was a two-stage event. First he was swallowed by a fish, because Jonah needed to be in a no-way-out situation so God could get his attention. He was swallowed whole- certain death, but in that certain death, Jonah found life in his Lord God. The second stage of the rescue was when Jonah was brought back to land. God didn’t just let him remain in the fish because God had more for Jonah to do.
Friends, sometimes God will take our sons and daughters into desperate, life-threatening situations. And we are afraid. We plead and cry out for them. We throw everything overboard in an attempt to save them. But that storm? It’s all in the hands of God. He is the Lord of the land and the sea (Jonah 1:9). He is the master of the wind and the waves, and they obey Him (Mark 4:39-41) You see, the wind and waves obey him, but his children often do not. We can trust Him that He controls everything our sons and daughters experience and He uses it for His purposes. The wind and waves obeyed God and did His bidding. The fish obeyed God and did His bidding. We might fear the storm, we might not see what goes on in the belly of the fish, but we can trust that the storm and the rescue are all in the hands of our loving Heavenly Father.
Today, let’s pray for our sons and daughters, that God would not necessarily calm the storm, but would use it to draw them closer to Him. Let’s pray that God would bring them to a place where they have no other option but to cry out to and trust Him. If God calmed the storm before Jonah was in the sea, he likely would have continued to run. Do we want calm….or do we want authentic surrender? If Jonah hadn’t been thrown into the sea, he wouldn’t have ended up in the fish- his no-way-out place of surrender. If we just want God to end the storm, we might forfeit the rescue and repentance that would result. Let’s pray carefully, focused on the Master of the waves and the Maker of our sons and daughters.
“Father, you see what’s going on in (name’s) heart and life today. You know whether they are surrendered to You or running away. Lord, I pray that You would use circumstances and other people to point them back to Christ. I don’t like to see the struggle, Lord, but I know you can use it. I would jump in and save them- it hurts to see them struggle. Yet I know You use the struggle to get their attention. Please work in them. I trust that You are the Lord and Master of the wind and waves…and they obey You. I know they will not consume (name) in defiance of Your will. I know You can provide rescue. Help me to trust Your work. No one saw what happened inside the fish, Lord. And I know that I don’t need to watch the process and weigh in on what You choose to do and how it unfolds. I just need to trust You. Lord, I’m willing to step back and allow You to work. I won’t cling to methods and plans of my own. I pray for mercy and grace. Lord, work in (name)’s heart ahd life today. Bring them to a place of surrender. Guide them to salvation in You and bring them to a life of obedience in Christ. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
Pray without ceasing.
A Call to Faithfulness
2 Timothy 1:7-9
“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
This week we’re taking a deeper dive into praying for faithfulness for our sons and daughters. We want to be specific and targeted as we pray.
What is faith? Faith, according to Strong’s Concordance (1), is defined as the persuasion or conviction of the truth of something. In the case of the believer, it is the conviction that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only means of forgiveness of sin and salvation of our souls. It is the conviction that we are sinners, saved by grace, dependent on the sacrificial atonement of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sin and the conquering of death through His resurrection and ascension. Faithfulness, then, is holding fast to that conviction, continuing unwaveringly in a life that reflects that conviction and a full dependence on the grace of God received through the gospel. Faithfulness is not just a ‘knowing’, but living out an unwavering commitment to Jesus Christ.
2 Timothy reminds us that we, as believers, were called by God before the beginning of time. Before God created the world, before the fall of man, God knew who his children would be. He knew; and He called us into fellowship with Him.
1 Corinthians 1:9 says “God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
God doesn’t call us only to watch us struggle and flounder to follow Him. He is faithful to support, protect, encourage and equip us.
Today, we want to pray that our sons and daughters understand their calling and realize it is not just a ‘label’ but that it requires action to ‘guard the good deposit’ and that they ‘keep the pattern of sound teaching’.
We must pray that they hold fast to the truth of the gospel and that they don’t just have ‘head knowledge’ but that they are intentional to live faithfully so their life reflects their calling by the Lord to a life surrendered to Him.
Pray that they rely on the Lord for strength, protection and equipping in faithfulness so they are purposeful and directed in their walk with the Lord.
Pray without ceasing.
G4102 - pistis - Strong's Greek Lexicon (niv). Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g4102/niv/mgnt/0-1/
Don’t forget to join us for an online Bible Study on Faithfulness on Tuesday, October 5 at 8pm EST. Can’t make it"? No worries, tune in to the youtube recording and watch it later! Join us on A Simple Gathering on Facebook!! Membership is free and the resources are fabulous!!