From Pity to Praise

My pastor sends out a Psalm every week to pray and meditate on here is this weeks:

Jesus demonstrated a strong leadership style, particularly during his trial and crucifixion, he actively challenged the religious leaders and expose their wrongdoing. His actions reflect a refusal to be a passive victim, instead embodying a transformative approach to love and resistance against evil.

Many people mistakenly view Jesus as passive due to his acceptance of suffering and death. This interpretation overlooks His active engagement in confronting injustice and evil. Yet Jesus demonstrated a strong leadership style that was neither passive or violent.

The Third Way

Jesus exemplified what is known as the “third way, a response to threats that avoid both passivity and aggression. This approach included:

• Respecting oneself and the attacker
• Responding with compassion
• Challenging the oppressor without mirroring their violence.

An example of this was when He was being questioned by the religious leaders, Jesus turned their inquiries back on them, maintaining His dignity and identity.

Jesus took decisive action that reflected His active leadership.

• He drove out merchants from the temple, showing righteous anger against corruption.
• He consistently challenged societal norms and injustices and advocated for the marginalized.

He had an active and passive obedience.

This describes the different aspects of Jesus’s mission. His active obedience referred to His perfect adherence to God‘s law throughout His life, while His passive obedience pertained to His suffering and death, which paid the penalty for humanity’s sin. Both are essential for understanding His role as our Savior.

Jesus was not a passive figure, He actively engaged with the world, demonstrating leadership through love, compassion, and righteous action.

Jesus’s command to “turn the other cheek” is sometimes interpreted as a blanket instruction to be passive in all situations, rather than a specific command. Turning the other cheek means to refuse personal revenge and overcome evil with love, not passive submission or cowardice. It’s not about being a doormat or allowing yourself to be abused.

According to the Bible lawlessness in the last days, signifies a widespread increase in moral decay, wickedness, and disregard for God’s laws, leading to colder love and societal breakdown which is characterized by selfishness, rebellion against authority, and escalating sin.

This culminated with the rise of the “man of lawlessness” -the antichrist, before Jesus’s return.

Matthew 24:12 tells us, “Because lawlessness will increase, the love of many will grow cold.” This points to rampant iniquity and a decrease in love for God and neighbor.

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 tells us, “Let no one deceive you in any way. For it will not be, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction” (Antichrist). He who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.”

2 Timothy 3:1-5 details the characteristics of people in the last days as selfish, proud, disobedient, and unloving, and lovers of pleasure rather than God, which is a direct consequence of rejecting God.

There are characteristics of lawlessness:

• Moral decay: A decline and moral standards, with people rejecting God righteous standards for their own desire.
• Contempt for law: Not just breaking laws, but holding God‘s law and the lawgiver in contempt, ignoring conscience and nature restraints.

• Societal breakdown: A prevalent turning toward evil, escalating violence, immortality, and anarchy, often seen as a sign of the times.

• Spiritual deception: The “mystery of lawlessness” is already at work, leading to a great falling away and deception by the lawless one.

Among this Jesus still offers hope, saying in Matthew 24:13, “The one who endures to the end will be saved.”

The antichrist is the ultimate manifestation of lawlessness is the man of lawlessness, who will b revealed as a deceiver before Jesus’s return.

I learned a long time ago that what you feed your soul matters. If we feed ourselves on social media or anything else we won’t be hungry for God.

There are three keys to having a spiritual hunger for God. It involves actively pursuing God through consistent practices like prayer, worship, and reading the Bible along with intentionally associating ourselves with spiritually minded people, while cultivating a deliberate choice and the discipline to seek Him, even when we don’t feel like it. This is where true satisfaction comes from God, and not worldly things.

There are three keys to having practices I believe that help us become spiritually Hungary for God:

1. Consistent engagement with God’s Word and prayer: Treat scripture as spiritual food, read it daily for nourishment, and actively engage in prayer, asking God to stir up your desire for Him.

• 2. Community connection and righteous influence: Surround yourself with people who are hungry for God, your appetite is influenced by your associations.
• 3. Intentional choice and action: Don’t wait for feelings, use self-control to seek God through prayer, worship, and seeking Him, even when motivation is low. This helps us to understand that action itself builds a deeper desire for God.

By actively choosing to pursue God through these three disciplines, we can build a deeper appetite for Him, finding fulfillment that the world cannot provide.

The average person spends two to five hours on social media per day. Imagine if that time was spent connecting with God through prayer, worship, and reading the Bible, what a different world this would be.

Satan likes to dangle temptations in front of our faces, hoping to lure us into sin and then pull the old bait and switch trick to bring us to destruction.

Fortunately, Jesus’s gives us examples of how to face temptations in Matthew 4:1-11. He gives of cues into Satan’s tricks and gives us ammo to defend ourselves against getting caught in Satan’s snares.

Matthew 4:11 teaches us crucial lessons on resisting temptations through complete reliance on God’s Word, prioritizing our spiritual needs over physical desires (our flesh), trusting God’s timing and protection, all while recognizing Satan’s deceptive use of scripture to lure us into foolishness and idolatry, and demonstrating Jesus’s perfect obedience and setting a pattern for our own victory over sin.

Jesus resisted turning stones into bread, showing that we can live by God’s Word. Not just in a physical sustenance, but, trusting God’s provision.

Matthew 4:7 teaches us a powerful lesson about the importance of trust in God in moments of trial. “You shall not test the Lord your God.” We will never have enough strength to overcome temptation without God. By seeking Him and trusting in His support we can find the strength to resist any temptation. And we shouldn’t put Him to the test or demand miraculous proof of His care for us.

Jesus countered Satan by quoting scripture, I read once that Jesus quoted Deuteronomy more than any other books in the Old Testament, when Satan was tempting Jesus in the wilderness, all three answers were in the book of Deuteronomy.

1. Deuteronomy 8:3 “man lives by every word the proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”
2. Deuteronomy 6:16 “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”
3. Deuteronomy 6:13 “You shall, fear the Lord your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name.

Satan twisted every scripture Jesus quoted, showing that we must rightly interpret God’s Word, and not use it self-servingly.

Jesus was lead by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested, teaching the importance of prayer, fasting, and focusing God before making major life decisions.

Jesus’s victory should be our example. Jesus’s sinless perfection and resisting temptations, qualified Him to be our High Priest and shows us that victory over sin is possible y following His pattern.

There are a few practical applications to help us resist temptation.

• Fill your heart with scripture: Meditate on God’s Word to be ready to combat temptation.
• Prioritize Your Spiritual needs: Seek God’s Word and presence over immediate physical or worldly gratification.
• Trust God’s timing: Don’t try and force God’s hand or take matters into your own hands.

• Guard yourself against misinterpretation: Be aware that Satan uses distorted scripture, so study diligently.
• Submit to the Holy Spirit: Follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in your life.

I think most of us are good at talking to or at God rather than talking with Him. But is that really having an intimate relationship with Him? When we talk at or to Him we are just expecting God to fix everything or just acknowledging His existence without actively seeking His input or surrendering anything. It’s a monologue -a one sided conversation.

When we talk with God in a two-way conversation or a dialogue, we are expecting to hear from Him. It signifies a relational conversation focused on building a deeper connection, not just making requests, it leads to a personal transformation and, guidance-seeking relationship. It puts God in the center and lets Him take the driver’s seat. This helps us move beyond just self-reliance to co-piloting with God’s divine wisdom.

It becomes about expressing our feelings, and then listening for His voice through scripture, conscience, peace, and surrendering control that can foster a dynamic relationship where God’s perspective can shape our path.

When we can shift to talking with God, rather than just talking to or at Him, God helps us see our issues differently, and we can gain new insights.

When can we let go of our control and let God have more control it moves us from self-sufficiency to recognizing God as our provider, healer, and sustainer, and empowers us to cast more of our cares on Him.

It’s about pursuing a relationship, not just a roadmap, fostering a constant connection where we can learn to walk with Him.