Force Feed Yourself the Word

"Man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord." - Deuteronomy 8:3

Sometimes you just don't want to read the Bible. Sometimes you're tired, unmotivated, just feel guilty, too busy or apathetic. It's hard to gin up the motivation to do something that feels like drudgery in the moment.

But we are in a war (Eph 6:10-20). And war requires vigilance because of the reality of constant threat. Every day we face the danger of backsliding into old sin patterns and becoming hard in our hearts. Every day we either grow more in Christ, or atrophy in our spiritual muscles. Either victory or defeat in that day's battle.  And wars are won, one battle at a time.

So what are we to do when we don't feel like reading the Word? When we lack the motivation to connect with God? When we're tired of praying? When the Bible just seems like black words on a white page... like just NOTHING is happening?

Force feed yourself the Word. 

That's right. Just simply, DO IT. Don't feel like it? Do it anyway. Just ball up and get it done. So what if it doesn't "taste good", you need to CHOOSE to put that spiritual bread in your mouth and eat it. Consider it a spiritual discipline. You NEED the Word. You'll die without it.

Consider the metaphor of weight lifting. Oodles of men and women have no problem forcing themselves to go to the gym, endure pain and sweat and tears, and CONTINUE to persevere for weeks and months in disciplining their body. Should we not have the same attitude towards our spiritual strengthening? Should we not have even MORE motivation towards Christ?? How much better and more satisfying our Savior is than a few pounds of flesh and muscle!! "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Psalm 119:103)

Consider also that God is PLEASED with your obedience even if it is faltering and half-hearted. Would He like you to RUN towards Him? Sure! But like a proud father of his little daughter taking her first steps, God is pleased with your failings in the right direction. To not have the faith and affection for Christ in that moment, and yet to STILL choose to pursue Christ is a glorious thing. It's like the faith underneath your faith.  It's the sense of the warrior pressing forward in the battle, even though he has no strength left.

And finally, remember the gospel FIRST as you are struggling with your lack of desire for the Word. Jesus died for the deadness of your spiritual taste buds. He forgives you for your lack of affection for Him. Even though you can't feel Him or even care right now... He isn't going anywhere. And doesn't that just make you love Him all the more? Perhaps your heart will come alive again and you will WANT to read the Word. If so, then do it; but if not, then force feed yourself the Word. 

Nom nomz,
The Relentless Fight

Book Review: Sexual Sanity for Men

David White has been on staff with Harvest USA for over 10 years, as the men's ministry coordinator. He disciples men, teaches seminary courses on ministering to the sexually broken, and speaks on sexual issues. In October 2012 he published Sexual Sanity for Men: Recreating Your Mind in a Crazy Culture.

Sexual Sanity for Men is being highlighted here on The Relentless Fight because of how it encourages, empowers, and equips men for the great fight of faith, particularly in the discouraging world of sexual brokenness.

The book is designed as a small group resource, with 14 weeks of reading and 5 days for each week. Each day's reading has about 2 pages of reading and 3 questions for personal reflection and group discussion. The readings are digestible and the questions are deep.

Some brief highlights from the book:

• The call to the relentless fight: "Nevertheless, no matter how diligent you are, please realize at the outset that you will never be free from the battle in this life...Freedom is the increasing ability to choose holiness out of love for Christ, despite the relentlessness of temptation!" page 3.
• The exhortation to patient endurance: "Jesus will never become a quick fix for you like sexual sin." page 184. This is HUGE. Just this call to patient endurance, realizing that the fight against sexual sin will be a LONG term battle, and VERY painful. Yes, Jesus is Better, but it will FEEL at first like he isn't, and your flesh will ACHE to return to your sin.
• The invitation to enter the fray: "The corruption of our sexuality is one of Satan's greatest triumphs, trashing a glorious gift of God and enslaving us at the same time. Your King is calling for your allegiance, inviting you to join the battle and bring the downfall of His enemy. Will you enter the fray?" page 100.
• The need for the gospel: "Does it feel like your struggle with sexual sin is bigger than you can possibly handle on your own? Good - then maybe you're finally desperate enough to lay hold of Jesus as you never have before!" page 110 and "Our churches need to continue preaching the gospel to Christians, not offering the gospel to unbelievers and then calling the saints to live by the law in their own strength." page 151.
• The necessity for brothers in arms: "In the same way, we desperately need men in our lives who'll give us a spiritual beating when we're crazy and blind to our own folly." page 219 and "You have an enemy who is literally hell-bent on your destruction. Are you going into battle alone? If we stay together, we survive." page 144. And "The only way to find freedom from sexual sin is to be committed to ruthless honesty with others." page 205, check out Don't Conceal, Confess.
• The challenge to humility: "Part of the reason we get stuck in sexual sin, and it doesn't seem like God is responding to our prayers for deliverance, is that God really wants us to begin battling the more foundational problem of pride." page 236 and "Men have confessed their arrogance to me, acknowledging that they would never have become Christians if not for their struggles..." page 239.

In summary, Sexual Sanity for Men provides a fantastic balance between ruthless violence against sin, and yet an incredible nuance of peace, gentleness, and tenderness to those who are so beaten up and discouraged. David White wisely holds out the gospel as our power source for change, and points out the first steps of strategy in the fight. Highly recommended for personal study or as a church small group resource! Buy it here.

Fighting for Sanity,
The Relentless Fight

PS: For the ladies, pick up Sexual Sanity for Women by Ellen Dykas.

Jesus Is Better

"For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere..." - Psalm 84:10

Have you ever stood in line for a good deal on Black Friday? What about hours of driving to see your favorite band? Or ditched your friends to hang out with that special person of interest? ;) We always make sacrifices for the things we believe are better. But how does this apply with Jesus and our fight against sin?

The Sons of Korah were the authors of Psalm 84, and this psalm presents a shocking claim that gives us power to fight our sin in a new way. They boldly proclaim in verse 10, "For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness." Do you see that key word? BETTER. And the comparison is meant to be staggering. Just ONE day with God is BETTER than a THOUSAND days anywhere else. 

Let's look at a few other parts of Psalm 84 to get some context. Look at the passionate desire that the song writers have for the Lord in verse 12, "My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God." Woah! That's some serious desire! Look also at verse 4, "Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!" Another translation of that word blessed is "happy", it's the same idea that Jesus uses in Matthew 5, commonly known as the Beatitudes. So they're saying, "HAPPY are those who hang out at your place Lord!" 

Why are these folks SO happy in God? How can WE be this happy in God? Let's consider some real-life comparisons of how Jesus really is better:

• Jesus is better... than a spouse, in any comparison possible: love, commitment, beauty, soul-satisfaction, power, gentleness, provision, protection, intimacy. Marriage itself is just a parable of the deeper intimacy and commitment of Christ to His bride (Ephesians 5:32).
• Jesus is better... than the pleasures of sex. An orgasm lasts for a few seconds, but in the Lord's presence there is fullness of joy and pleasures FOREVER (Psalm 16:11)
• Jesus is better... than the comfort of food. Chocolate cake cannot minister grace to our souls (Hebrews 13:9), a bag of Cheetos cannot comfort our loneliness, and a beer cannot relieve the worry in our hearts. And yet Jesus is FULL of grace (John 1:14), draws near to the broken-hearted (Psalm 34:18), and guards your heart with peace (Philippians 4:6-7).
• Jesus is better... than the relief of cutting. Jesus brings a better comfort to your soul (2 Corinthians 1:3-4), and HE has already bled FOR you, to purchase justification before God (Romans 5:9) and redemption (Ephesians 1:7) as a new creation in Christ. 
• Jesus is better... than the approval of performance. Honestly your performance SUCKS (Isaiah 64:6), and Jesus' performance is PERFECT (Romans 10:4), so in Christ you can REST (Romans 4:5). 

Whatever your favorite sin is offering, Jesus offers BETTER. Give up the tin, to get the gold! Give up the toilet water, to enjoy the fine wine! The last verses of Psalm 84 are a key part to understanding how Jesus can be better than all the other things that vie for our affections; verses 11-12 say, "For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in You!" When we put Jesus in the place of highest affection, and trust Him to provide for us in the way that He lovingly and wisely decides, then we are BLESSED, and He doesn't withhold ANY GOOD THING from us!  Jesus is NOT a kill-joy, who calls us to just give up on all our dreams and pleasures. Rather, He would have us ENJOY these things in their proper place. See, if you try to go after these pleasures WITHOUT Jesus you won't get them. But if you go after Jesus as your treasure? He graciously gives us all the other things we need, and with them He gives the enjoyment of not being owned by them or devastated when they don't satisfy you. 

In closing, here are three practical applications to live out "Jesus Is Better":

1. See the Hook Behind the Bait: Realize that you are ALWAYS sacrificing for SOME deal that you believe will make you happy. The question is, will that deal satisfy? Is it a good deal? We can never NOT sacrifice for a deal, we always are believing something and giving ourselves to it. The problem is that any deal other than Jesus is going to fail us, and end up enslaving us. That's the hook behind the bait, something that Thomas Brooks knew well. Consider what it would actually be like to have a thousand days of your particular favorite sin, or even a good thing that you enjoy... A thousand days? Do you really want that? One of Satan's happiest tricks is to fill a box with guilt, shame, slavery, and despair... and wrap it up in pleasure and promises of freedom. See the hook behind the bait. 
2. Remember the Happy Gospel: The gospel is one of the greatest displays of how Jesus is better, and will MAKE you happy as you remember it and spend time meditating on it. David said in Psalm 32:1, "Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." Blessed! Happy! The gospel is the GOOD NEWS about forgiveness in Jesus for all the ways that we have failed to love Him better than other things. And in the Gospel, we are given a NEW heart (Ezekiel 36:26)  that has new affections for Christ! 
3. Fight for a Superior Joy in Jesus: Don't fight your pleasure with self-discipline and harsh asceticism! Colossians 2:23 says that that doesn't work against fleshly lusts. You have to fight pleasure with pleasure. In this case, fight for a GREATER and superior pleasure in Jesus. Fight! Work hard! When you have a new love interest, you naturally cultivate your affection by meditating on their character, looking at pictures of them, spending large chunks of time with them. Do the same with Christ! DATE Him! Pursue Him! Look at "pictures" of Him in the Word, spend large chunks of time with Him in prayer! This will NOT come naturally and passively. You must be active to fight for this joy in Jesus. And it will be worth it. 

Fighting to believe that Jesus is better,

The Relentless Fight

PS: Here's an iPhone 4 wallpaper of Jesus is Better, and iPhone 5-size too!

Freedom!

"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." - Galatians 5:1

When Paul was writing to the churches in Galatia, he didn't mince words with them. He went straight for the target and rebuked them for abandoning the gospel in favor of a works-based help-yourself salvation program. You wanna see an evangelist-apostle-church-planter ex-Pharisee flip out? Tell him Jesus' cross wasn't enough.

By the time Paul gets to chapter 5 he's all worked up, and blurts out this amazing truth and challenge in 5:1, "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." It seems that the sentence should have a few explanation points at the end, with some underlines... "For freedom Christ has set us FREE; stand firm therefore, and DO NOT submit again to a yoke of slavery!!!" (maybe shouted out by William Wallace).

Think about that... Truth? Christ has set us free. Application? Don't go back to being a slave. Amen! Now let's examine the surface meaning, and then the deeper interpretation based on the context.

Surface Meaning: You're Free from SIN: Christ has died on the cross to set us free from sin. The curse is broken, the old man is crucified WITH Christ, and we are now new creations. Free from sin! So stand firm in that freedom, and don't go back to your old slavery to sin. FIGHT your sin!

Deeper Interpretation: You're Free from RELIGION: If you look at the context of Paul's letter, and the surrounding verses (chapter 4 about the freedom of the heavenly Jerusalem, and the rest of chapter 5 about the freedom from circumcision-based righteousness), it is clear that Paul is mainly talking about the freedom of salvation by FAITH apart from the LAW! Or in other words, Christ has set you free from religion, meaning a human effort work-your-way-to-heaven salvation plan that performs to earn God's favor. So stand firm in God's grace! Stand firm and don't go BACK to the endless performance-treadmill slavery of religion. FIGHT to remember the gospel!

Pay attention, because this distinction is tricky, but VITALLY important: The fight to live in the freedom from religion comes before the fight to live in the freedom from sin. Do you see the order? Read it again if you have to. Because this distinction makes a WORLD of difference for how we live our lives. What might it look like? Maybe it looks like singing worship songs in joy and faith right after a failure as you are amazed at the GRACE of God in the gospel, instead of groveling before God and putting yourself on probation for a few days as you sulk in guilt, promising God you'll fight harder next time.

So yes, keep fighting your sin. But even deeper, and more primary is the fight to remember and believe the gospel! That is the relentless fight. Fight to remember the gospel, and once you do, you will have the strength, joy, and reason for fighting your sin. Your forgiven sin. The very sin that you are now free from because of the gospel.

For Freedom,
The Relentless Fight

Is Ray Lewis Closer to Jesus Than You?

Please welcome guest author Dan Miller! Dan works on staff for DiscipleMakers, has a beautiful wife Becky, and a darling little girl. He loves creating films, ministering to college students, and watching football. But above all he loves Jesus. 
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Photo credit to raylewis52.com

On Sunday, February 3rd, the Baltimore Ravens will return to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2001.  No matter how the game ends, they're losing a really good linebacker...and an even better example of God's grace.

Ray Lewis is a man who helped the Ravens become Super Bowl champions in 2001 and a defensive juggernaut for the last decade.  He is retiring at the end of this season, partially due to spending 15 years tackling people like this.  But in the midst of this success, he's also been one of the most polarizing figures in sports.  Why?

His on-field resume:  Twelve-time Pro Bowl player. Seven-time All-Pro. Two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Super Bowl MVP.  ESPN called him the best defensive player of all time.
His off-field resume: Guilty of obstruction of justice in the January 2000 stabbing deaths of two men.  Father of six children born to four different women.

Ray Lewis is going to the Hall of Fame.  Would you let him in your house?

What if he was a professing Christian?  Because he is.

For a moment, don't roll your eyes when you hear that he thanks God publicly, prays during games, and wears Christian t-shirts.  Don't mock when he says that the real reason he's retiring is that God is calling him to spend more time with his kids and become a public speaker. 

Still...37 years old.  I'll still be paying off my school loans then.  You and I might be working thirty years longer than Ray Lewis, and our children might have to help us financially when we get old. Ray Lewis probably won't have to worry about money anymore.   

If your blood pressure is still rising, consider the meatiest portion: if Ray Lewis actually trusts in Jesus, he will get to to hang out with Jesus for eternity.  He'll take his place alongside guys like David and Moses.  And if you go to heaven, you might be his neighbor. That's not fair.  And it shouldn't be, because grace isn't fair.  David and Moses were murderers.

And I've heard lines like that a thousand times and said them just as many...but when I think about how OPEN the gates of heaven really are, I get mad.

Still, I fight to believe in grace, and sometimes I literally choke down phrases like this: "If I don't believe ANYONE can go to heaven, I have laughed at the blood of Jesus and attempted to hijack the cross."

Photo credit to LA Times

Why is it so easy for me to be a sinner saved by grace, but so hard for me to accept that reality in the life of another person?  

Because I still think I'm the main point. But the truth is found right in Psalm 91, on the t-shirt worn by Ray Lewis, pictured right. The first verse says, "Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty."

Whoever.  

Because it really is still all about God's mercy sheltering me from Hell.  I spend so much time focusing on my sin, and the sin of others.  I spend so little time focusing on the relentless grace of Jesus and even less time proclaiming it.  

God be merciful to me, a sinner.

Thanks for the reminder Ray,

Dan Miller

You Are a New Creation in Christ

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17

One of the biggest challenges of life as a Christian is when we still find ourselves struggling with the same sins year after year. There begins to set in this gnawing question: "If I'm STILL struggling like this... am I even a Christian?"

Our gut reaction is to freak, and renew our commitment to fight harder. "Okay, I need to STOP ______. Why do I keep failing? I need to repent and grow in this area. More accountability, more Scripture, more books, more fighting." The problem is that this approach..... doesn't work. We've got things backwards! We've been duped into believing that our new actions are what give us a new identity. But the gospel says that it's our new identity that causes us to have new actions.

Paul speaks in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that those who are in Christ are new creatures. "The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." This teaching is all over the Bible! Jesus, speaking with Nicodemus, explains in John 3 how those who are in Christ are born AGAIN. They are new people! And God prophecies hundreds of years before Christ through Ezekiel in chapter 36 that He will give His people a NEW heart made of flesh and not of stubborn stone. New hearts! New affections and motivations and loves. A new identity. Paul encouraged the Corinthian Christians that they had new identities. After listing off a laundry list of sins they used to do, he boldly proclaims "...And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Corinthians 6:11) YES!! Such WERE some of you. But not anymore! You were washed, sanctified, justified. You have a new identity in Christ.

Here's the challenge: Believe that you are a new creation in Christ. Here are three practical applications for what that looks like in your life:

1. You Have a New Identity: You are no longer the porn addict, the arguing jerk, the girl obsessed with her body image, the depressed cutter, the outcast loser. You have a new God-given label! Beloved. Precious. Redeemed. Adopted. Justified. Accepted. Approved in Christ. So be defiant! Laugh at your feelings. This new identity is true NO MATTER WHAT YOU FEEL. Shout it to yourself. Put it on a sticky note. Write it in your Facebook profile. Use it to introduce yourself. 
2. You Have a New Power: The best the world can offer for life-change is to work really hard at behaviors, and THEN you might be able to remake a new identity. But God gives us a new identity by GRACE, and that makes our behavior change. So what's our power? The gospel, not will-power. So walk in that power, walk with swagger and confidence in the Holy Spirit at work in you. You have been set free by the VERY power that raised Christ from the dead. You now walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4). Rejoice!
3. You Have New Actions: Because of your new heart, new identity, and new desires, you will have new actions. How can you not? You've been completely remade in Christ! Start studying the Word to see what kind of new actions those in Christ have. Colossians 3 is a great place to start. Start using your body and mind and emotions for righteousness (Romans 6). It's almost like being given a superpower like flying or telekinesis or shooting flames out of your eyes. Wouldn't you be excited to start doing those fun new actions? In Christ, we have the Holy Spirit, and He is infinitely more useful and powerful than all the superpowers in the world. 

The old sinful person is dead. The new person in Christ has been reborn. Your sin is nailed to the cross, and is breathing out its last. A new day has dawned, and you have been raised to new life in Christ. Walk in it, Christian.

New in Christ,
The Relentless Fight

PS: The Relentless Fight just launched a monthly email digest today! Details and sign up here.

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Redeeming email for God's glory,

The Relentless Fight