The Injustice of Preference

Asked if I’d be participating in my church’s summer Bible study about excess, I always smiled and answered, “No.” Ignorance is bliss, and if I’m totally honest, I had no desire to be convicted in most of the areas the study covers. Then one Sunday I picked up the book for a closer look, and I knew: I couldn’t cling to ignorance as a way to avoid conviction.

I dreaded the ugly truths God would expose, and at the same time, I longed for the freedom, peace, and joy that come after conviction and repentance.

So I dove in, and within the first few pages, I was mad. Offended. Isn’t that what the Word sometimes does? Offends, because we’d rather not admit the darkness in our own hearts. The self-centeredness. The greed.

But something pushed me forward.

We looked at James 2:1-13. For days several verses pierced my soul and spirit and discerned the thoughts and intents of my heart (Hebrews 4:12). They kept circulating through my mind, winding their way to my heart: Conviction. Tweet #HolyHis

It’s about giving preference to what the world esteems rather than loving everyone with mercy regardless of their wealth or position, especially the less fortunate, the way Jesus’ unconditionally loves and shows us mercy.

The passage begins, “My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons” (verse 1, KJV). The Greek root for respect of persons is prosōpolēmpsia, which means partiality or “the fault of one who when called on to give judgment has respect of the outward circumstances of man and not to their intrinsic merits, and so prefers, as the more worthy, one who is rich, high born, or powerful, to another who does not have these qualities” (www.blueletterbible.org).

Faith in Christ and prejudice cannot co-exist. Jesus alone is to be revered among others. We cannot place our faith in Jesus and then value or judge others based on their status in society, high or low, or any other outward circumstance. Conversely, we cannot place our faith in Jesus and then prize beauty, prominence, and possessions in order to be admired.

But don’t we?

Aren’t we all to a certain degree guilty of prosōpolēmpsia ? Don’t we make decisions about a person’s insides based on their outsides? In a split second, we judge their success in life, their character, and maybe even how well they obey God by what they do or have. We decide whether they’re good parents or bad by how their kids look and act. We determine whether or not we think they’re truly saved. And we pursue them accordingly.

“Have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?” (verse 4).

We not only judge others with evil thoughts, forming opinions of worth based on what we see on their outsides, but don’t we also judge what we put our time and resources toward with evil thoughts in order to draw the partiality of others based on what’s on what others can see of us?

Preferring the things that improve our outward circumstances over the things that improve our inward merit or others’ circumstances? Shopping rather than sacrificing for others. Wearing the right things rather than clothing the poor. Eating at nice restaurants rather than feeding the needy. Enjoying hobbies rather than serving. Working to get ahead rather than working with others so they can get ahead. Isn’t that partiality with our time and resources?

What we cherish we will pursue with priority.

Ouch!

“If you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors” (verse 9).

To judge someone’s outsides without respect for their insides is sin. To judge the condition of their hearts based on the appropriateness of their dress, or piercings, or tattoos, or where they hang out, or what they do for a living, or who their friends are, or the things that ensnarl them, or how their kids act and dress is sin.

“Speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty” (verse 12). The law of love. Love thy neighbor as thyself.

We can tell a tree by its fruit, and we can call sin what it is, we just don’t get to judge the sinner. Quite the opposite, we are to love them as Christ loved us. Sacrificially and unconditionally. Even if we don’t agree with them, or how they act, or how they dress, or how they parent.

We can still shop, have and wear nice things, eat out, vacation, work hard, and enjoy hobbies, but not to the injustice of others. Not for prosōpolēmpsia.

My partiality is as equal a transgression as what I judge to be someone else's inexcusable offense (verses 10-11).

Nowhere does the law of liberty say judge thy neighbor.

“For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment” (verse 13).

To show mercy is always better than judgment.

Lord, I am guilty of judging with evil thoughts. Please forgive me.

Are you guilty too? Pray with me:

Lord, search us and know our hearts, try us and know our anxieties; see if there is any wicked way in us and lead us in the way everlasting (Psalm 139:23-24) as we become more wholly Yours today.

Shauna Wallace

A Free Nation in a Free Fall

Today, we celebrate the independence of our nation. 

Today, I am reminded of our dependence on Jesus. 

He alone can truly set us free. 

He alone can save.

He alone can change a man's heart.

A nation's heart.

He alone can end abortion.

He alone can preserve marriage between a man and a woman.

He alone can restore the value of life at all stages.

The battle is His; we are His foot soldiers.

Here to do as He commands.

Here to love as He loves.

Here to stand in the gap.

Will we obey?

Will we pray without ceasing?

Will we cooperate with Him as He interrupts and inconveniences us?

Will we stand? 

One nation, under God.

How about just His people, under His authority, submitting to His will?

Humble.

Available.

Uncompromising.

God's word is woven through the fabric of this nation's founding documents, yet we seem to be a nation at war with everything for which He stands. 

Where once this nation was guided by biblical principals and a belief that freedom can only thrive where morality is established by Christianity, Christianity appears to be the only belief that will not be tolerated. 

Historically, a nation that turns its back on God in pursuit of freedom from moral obligations is a nation that falls. 

This is a free nation. But are we using that freedom to fail?

Lord, turn up the heat in our hearts that Your light would shine brighter in an ever dark world. Do whatever it takes to draw unto You a people wholly Yours.

Shauna Wallace
Holy His

The Tricks of the Sex Trafficking Trade

She was seventeen, attended community college as a dual-credit high school student, and worked at the local small town café where a regular customer befriended her over the course of a few months. She thought their conversations were innocent, talking about her life and dreams. Unbeknownst to her, though, this older male was stalking her as part of a dangerous network seeking to sell her into slavery.  It wasn’t random; she was chosen.

Her “faithful patron” passed along details she shared to a few college football players conspiring to seduce her. When she turned eighteen, they became customers. She had no idea they were connected to the other man as they used information he supplied to say all the right things, enticing her with her own dreams. It all appeared perfectly harmless. She thought it was cool. An amazing coincidence.

Eventually, she willingly accepted their invitation to hang out a few hours away in Seattle. After all, it’s where she always wanted to live! She lied to her parents, drove to Seattle, and arrived at a beautiful home with fancy cars parked outside. It appeared to be the legitimate life of the rich and famous. It was all so perfect! She told more lies and stayed there several days, giving the men there ample opportunity to bid on her. She had no idea, nor was she suspicious that an ensuing invitation to go to Arizona during Christmas break was to complete her sale to a pimp.

This true story is nothing like the ambush abduction I imagined when confronted with the term sex trafficking. While a part of me wishes I’d never listened to Focus on the Family Daily’s radio broadcast on “Exposing the Dark World of Human Trafficking,” I’m glad I did.

I think you should as well.

Now.

Whether by sudden abduction or slow seduction, girls are becoming stolen goods at an alarming rate of up to several hundred thousand a year at schools, online, in neighborhoods, in the bleachers where our kids play sports, at the restaurants and stores where our daughters work and hang out right here in the great United States of America.

It happens over time, because these predators are patient. It happens by tag team, because these criminals are smart. It happens within families; dads, uncles, and brothers selling their daughters, nieces, and sisters. It’s perpetrated by peers, not just older men.

What’s expected of them daily is unfathomable.

The average age is twelve.  

One twelve-year-old girl featured in the broadcast was enticed by two teenage boys to come to a party when she turned thirteen, when she was “grown up.” She did, and a guy a little older befriended her. She was a bit grossed out by him, but he started showing up different places she frequented, like school and Starbucks, and he was so nice to her. He wooed her, earned her trust, and then got her to lie, a common tactic. A way to hold something over her. A way to manipulate and control her. He eventually convinced her to dance for him at a strip club, you know, to help him out because he needed money. He had her raped in a side room, took pictures, and threatened to expose her to her church friends and victimize her ten-year-old sister if she didn’t stay quiet and compliant. He then trafficked her out of her own home.

I don’t even want my daughters to know this kind of evil exists, but the danger lurks too close to home. Living just twenty miles from one of the top U.S. markets for sex slaves, my daughters need to be informed. Scared. Not with a spirit of fear, as God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7), but in the spirit of being shrewd as snakes (Matthew 10:16).

The Bible warns, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (I Peter 5:8).  How can we recognize him if we aren’t aware of his schemes? How can our girls?

As it is age appropriate, young women need to know the dangers that lurk around them and how to recognize when someone is preying on them. Each one of us, with much prayer, has to decide how much to share with our daughters at what age, but no matter how old they are, we must be vigilant guards over them, knowing where they are and whom they’re with and doing everything we humanly can to make sure they are never victims of this tragic industry.

Our sons need to understand the dangers of pornography, not just in what it does now, but in who it victimizes on the other side of the image. The market it creates for selling little girls. The fire it fuels in them that might rage out of control one day to the point that they’re hiring a twelve-year-old who has been forced into prostitution. The fact that the girl they’re lusting after in the image or sex salon could be their little sister. The fact that the pleasure she portrays is many times fake. Unattainable. Perhaps the tenth or twelfth trick of her day because she has to meet her quota.

A little too much? Yes! You’re right! So what are we going to do about it?

Are we willing to sacrifice convenience, time, and money to give and serve alongside ministries putting themselves on the frontlines of this battle? To call our legislators and demand harsher penalties for child prostitution?

Willing to take just under an hour to listen to the two Focus on the Family Daily radio broadcasts listed below? A word of caution: While not graphic, they are detailed and the subject matter could be very upsetting to your kids. Each one is under 30 minutes.

Exposing the Dark World of Human Trafficking (Part 1)

Exposing the Dark World of Human Trafficking (Part 2)

Will you visit www.sharedhope.org and find out how you can help prevent, restore, and bring justice?

Our ignorance and apathy is their grave danger. Our insistence that our child would know better than to be tricked like the girl from the small town café or the foolishness of thinking it only happens to girls already broken in some way could put them at risk.

As followers of Jesus empowered by the Holy Spirit to do good works to His glory, at whatever level we can, let us be His hands and feet to rescue and redeem trafficking victims. Jesus proclaimed, "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18).

As His ambassadors, this is our business. Jesus assures us in John 14:12 that “he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”

It’s our job. Will we go, or will we be stirred but not changed; moved emotionally but physically unresponsive?

Lord, I’m the queen of good intentions derailed by a self-seeking heart. Move us to action according to Your will! Use us as You desire as we become more wholly Yours today.

Shauna Wallace

Holy His

Decorating Our Hearts

Boxes unpacked and everything in its place in our new home, it was time to perfect all the spots and rooms that were “missing” something. Armed with lists, sketches, and dimensions by room, along with paint and fabric swatches, I was determined to achieve a magazine-worthy décor. It was a process, but not to worry. I’m a great obsessor! Sadly, when I would walk around my house, rather than marvel at God’s goodness all around me, all I could see was want.

Sometime during that process, I came across Proverbs 24:3-4, and God’s exact word for me in that exact moment drew my heart to home design that pleases Him: “Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.”

My focus was all wrong! House in verse three refers not only to a physical dwelling, but also to a family, the people in the household, and the line of descendents. Regardless of what provides shelter over our heads, a family is built, established, sustained, made permanent, and sometimes rebuilt through wisdom, forethought, and discretion. When we use the intelligence, skill, and insight we obtain by reading the Bible and listening to the Holy Spirit as He leads and guides us into all truth, we are able to discern, perceive, know, observe, mark, and distinguish what is necessary for our family to be ordered, settled and secure, prepared, accomplished, and headed in the right direction.

Now to fill the rooms. Rooms in verse four speaks not only of physical chambers, but also of the innermost or inward parts. The part of us encompassed or enclosed within. Our hearts.

Drawing from the same skills of observation, discernment, understanding, and wisdom, our family’s innermost parts are abundantly filled with precious and pleasant riches, which means each of us as individuals are armed, satisfied, and complete with substance that is prized by God. Things He deems rare, splendid, costly, influential, delightful, sweet, lovely, agreeable, and sweet sounding.

Interestingly, the root for riches means “vigour, generative power, physical strength,” probably from ‘aven, which means “ trouble, wickedness, sorrow, idolatry, trouble of iniquity” (www.blueletterbible.org, H202 ‘own and H205 ‘aven).  Consequently, the riches with which I want to fill my house (and the hearts within) are exclusively available in Christ to enable us to vigorously walk in the generative power of the Holy Spirit in the face of any trouble, wickedness, sorrow, iniquity, and idolatry.

We are not going to find any of this in a home décor store!

So while my mind was occupied with envisioning a flawless décor, that’s not what makes a house beautiful at all! Pretty things are nice to look at, and walking into a room that is “done” brings me great satisfaction, but I don’t want my home to be attractive because of the right combination of seating, fabrics, accents, paintings, and perfectly positioned possessions. I want its true beauty to exist in the value of what’s contained within the people housed there.

To build a home is to build a family. To fill its rooms – its innermost or inward parts – is to fill the hearts of those within with precious and pleasant qualities and characteristics esteemed by God, not man.

What is delightful, sweet, lovely, agreeable, and sweet-sounding to the Lord? By no means is this list exhaustive, but here are a few things the scriptures tell us delight God:

A broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17);

A just weight (Proverbs 11:1);

Those who are blameless in His sight (Proverbs 11:20);

Those who deal truthfully (Proverbs 12:22);

The prayer of the upright (Proverbs 15:8);

The fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:3);

To understand and know Him, that He is Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth (Jeremiah 9:24);

Singing, meditation (of the biblical, not New Age kind), and being glad in Him (Psalm 104:34);

Sacrifices (of the giving up self kind, not animals) to and for Him (Philippians 4:18);

Love (I Corinthians 13:1).

Is it time to redecorate? Refresh a few rooms? Address a few heart issues?

We have plenty to keep us busy around my house!

My home is never truly finished in my eyes. There’s always something that just isn’t quite done. I’ve been in my home five years and just last week finally figured out a hardware and fingertip towel combination for my powder bath. Now if I could just figure out what to do on/behind my toilet! You see, as soon as I seem to finally have everything just the way I want it, I discover an item or look that’s outdated, or my tastes have changed, and it’s time to start refreshing.

In the same way, we will never be perfected this side of heaven. We will always be a work in progress as God finishes what He started in us when by grace He turned our hearts toward Christ.

Fortunately, though, the biblical principles we instill in our “house” never go out of style. God’s word never changes and it never is outdated and it never gets old. Our spiritual decorating efforts have eternal value and will always be in style.

Lord, fill our innermost parts with precious and pleasant riches that reflect Your splendor and bring glory to Your name as we become more wholly Yours today.

Shauna Wallace

Holy His

Salvation Assurance: Perfection or Endurance?

I’m beginning to wonder if my kids are right that I’m losing my mind with age, forgetting entire conversations (or so they say). There is definitely a trace of truth to their evaluation, but I do sometimes wonder if they claim we talked about something simply to mess with me or to orchestrate a desired result.

At the same time, I find myself experiencing moments while studying the Bible or hearing it taught when something I know I’ve seen or read repeatedly before, something that is so simple and apparently so clear to most, and yet it strikes me between my eyes of understanding as if I’ve never seen it before.

This Sunday was one of those times. As my pastor preached, it occurred to me that the evidence of salvation isn’t found in perfection but in endurance. It was a profound “aha” moment for me because there are times when I sometimes struggle with sin (okay, okay, it’s daily) and have genuinely questioned whether or not I’m really saved. If I were, would I still do the things I do? If I genuinely love Jesus and He has done a transforming work in my heart, would I really continue to sin? If I truly grasp what Jesus has done for me, would I take it so lightly by doing things that are in essence spitting in the face of the grace and mercy He’s extended to me?

And then when I read I Peter 1:16, “Be holy, for I am holy,” or Matthew 5:48, "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect,” I experience a sinking dread that I AM DOOMED!

In my mind, my lack of holiness and perfection must substantiate a lack of salvation. As a child of God adopted through the blood of Jesus, my life should certainly exhibit decreasing works of the flesh (see Galatians 5:19-21 and Romans 1:28-32) and increasing fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), but my imperfect performance doesn’t necessarily prove me unsaved. As Galatians 3:3 questions, “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” In other words, our salvation is a work of the Holy Spirit, and so will be our perfecting. Performance isn’t the measure.

There really is nothing we can do to earn salvation – God does a work in our hearts to turn us to Jesus (Ephesians 2:8), gives us the measure of faith with which we respond in belief (Romans 12:3), and then completes the work (Philippians 1:6). Yet, as Philippians 2:12-13 explains, “…as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13). I believe this describes the believer’s life as characterized by fearing God, obeying Him, and repenting when we don’t.

So what about losing our salvation? Can we be saved, but then not endure or overcome, and end up unsaved? I once was terribly unnerved by scriptures where Jesus said “he who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:22, 24:13, 13:13), or the eight times in Revelation when the letters to the churches indicate “he/him who overcomes” receives eternal life and/or rewards.

The thought terrified me, again, because of my imperfection in following Christ at all times in all things. Then God showed me Jesus’s words in John 6:39-40: “This is the will of the Father who sent me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up in the last day.”

God desires that Jesus not lose one of those He has given Him. Blessed assurance!!! To be sure, Hebrews 7:25 tells us, “He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” Jesus is able to save us to the end because He lives to make intercession for us!

When Jesus saves us, there will be a change in us for sure, and He won’t let us go. Our lives will reflect His work in our hearts, and He will continue that work to the end. Therefore, we will overcome. We will endure.

Peace floods my soul. The evidence of salvation isn’t the perfect absence of sin but the continual turning back to Christ when I do sin. The continual return to Him and His ways. The never giving up. The never deciding that Jesus isn’t working and I’m out. Perseverance.

Sometimes we don’t want to hear the hard stuff, yet 2 Corinthians 13:5 tells us, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless indeed you are disqualified.”

Lord, thank You that You do not desire to lose one of those You have given Your Son, Jesus. We thank You for His continual intercession on our behalf that we would become more wholly Yours as we endure to the very end.

Shauna Wallace

Holy His

Submarines in Muddy Rivers

Lounging in the guest bed watching an early evening movie with one of my daughters, bickering penetrated our peaceful haven as an offended sibling burst in to report an unacceptable incident. The tattling sister made a deal she never should have, the sister watching the movie allowed it, and the originator now found it to be completely unfair. It was the end of the day, and any trace of wisdom I might have started with was completely depleted.

Numb in the brain, I froze as I contemplated which issue to address – the one sister being a woman of her word, letting her “Yes” be a “Yes,” or the other sister having the consideration to be generous with her heart and reject unfair deals. James happened to pop his head in the room, and when he heard “the deal,” he swiftly and decidedly addressed the offense. He exacted a consequence, and it was over.

What a relief! Yet, at the same time, I felt a twinge of inadequacy. Why did I sometimes feel so paralyzed with confusion and indecision? Why can’t I have wisdom not just some of the time but all of the time? Chatting with James later, I explained how sometimes I just feel like I’m failing my children.

Shortly thereafter, a friend and I were discussing the challenges of consistently training up our children and choosing worthy battles. She and her husband had recently agreed that he would help balance her approach to disciplining their children, and she found his covering over her – his help in rescuing her when she was overwhelmed – to be a huge relief.

It occurred to me how desperately we need submarines in our muddy rivers!

I once heard men are like submarines, while women are like rivers. Men compartmentalize their lives – job, wife, kids, hobbies, friends, responsibilities, etc. If something goes wrong in one compartment, he just seals it off, leaving the rest of his submarine completely functioning. Flashing red sirens may be screaming as water floods the damaged area, but the rest of the craft is dry and fully functioning.

But for a woman, whatever gets thrown in or stirred up in her life throughout the day muddies all the water. There’s no separation. All disappointments, aggravations, emotions, interactions, stresses, hormones, relationship issues, and the like flow into the current. There’s no plucking out a single pollutant. All the water has to be purified!

When “the deal” blackened my waters, I needed James to navigate his submarine into my murky water and start dealing with some of the pollutants! Even though he has to immerse himself in order to get me out, he seems to have this remarkable periscope that gives him incredible perspective. He can clearly see everything that’s really going on at the surface when I no longer can!

God knew I would need him to be my head. He’s the one who set it up that way for our benefit!

Ephesians 5:23 explains, “For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church; and He is Savior of the body.” We are to be subject to our husbands, and they are to love us as “Christ also loved the church and gave Himself to her” (verse 25). 

It’s a matter of order, like the military. People are arranged by rank for optimum function and protection. If everyone’s the admiral, there are going to be major problems. Without a clear head of operations to give orders and expect obedience, when the enemy strikes, confusion will ensue. Chaos. Defeat. Bloodshed. Death.

The order in our homes is that the wife is subject to her husband, her head. She is arranged under him. He is her covering, and she willingly, by her own appointment, yields to him. Obeys him. Accepts his admonition and advice. And help.

The good news for us is that right order clears murky waters. The reason Christ loved the church and gave Himself to her, as our husbands are to mimic in their love for us, is “that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of the water by the word” (verse 26). When our husbands love us like Christ, and we subject ourselves to their headship, we are sanctified and cleansed by the washing of the water by the word, which in the Greek refers to that which is spoken.

When James came into the guest room and laid down the law, he de-muddied my waters! He was my savior (little s). It’s a principle of application: James is head, I am subject, and I benefit, just as it is in my relationship with Jesus Christ.

“Is there mud in your river?” James will often ask if he senses I’m overwhelmed or agitated. It’s our code for gauging my state of mind. Am I a happy wife and mommy or drowning maniac?!?! Then he’ll sweetly inquire, “What can I do to get the mud out of your river?”

Husbands, at the end of the day when your wives lay lifeless on the beds of their muddy rivers, navigate your submarines into those cloudy waters and take authority over them mudslingers! Wives, let your husbands be the head. Let them propel their way into their proper place.

Everyone wins.

Lord, help us to submit to Your perfect order as we become more wholly Yours today.

Shauna Wallace

Holy His

Man, Woman, Baby: Why the Assault?

As I have tried to make sense of the baffling movement in America to oppress one particular group of people based on their beliefs in order to advance another based on their agenda, the Lord has shown me we have a word problem. Not of the math, rhetoric, or freedom of expression variety, but of the biblical kind.

It goes back to the very beginning, when “the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2). When “the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

When He created life…

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (Genesis 2:7).

When He created marriage between a man and a woman…

And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him”…And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to man. And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:18-24).

When He blessed procreation and gave man dominion over the earth and every living thing in it…

Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on earth (Genesis 1:28).

And Satan immediately sought to destroy what God created by attacking His word. Whether he was the serpent or simply used the serpent, “more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made,” the devil tempted Eve by creating doubt about what God said.

Has God indeed said, “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden”? (Genesis 3:1).

And that’s all it took. Just a seed of doubt that the word of God is true. And that’s all it’s taking today. A seed of doubt that the word of God is true – to the word, to the letter – and our world, our culture, our nation, our churches, our families, are being altered. 

Just consider the targets: the very things God established at the very beginning of time. His order. His divine ways. His perfection. Can you see it? He created woman for man and joined them together as one. The attack? Redefine marriage to include same sex unions. He told them to fill the earth with children. The attack? Abortion. He gave man dominion over earth and its creatures. The attack? Every form of elevating the earth’s needs above man’s needs.

If the devil can destroy God’s perfect design for family and sustenance, he can interfere with a powerful platform from which God Almighty displays His supernatural power to save, provide, and protect. He mutes a mouthpiece of His love, goodness, and faithfulness. He distorts the message of the gospel and quiets a life that might otherwise be preaching.

The crazy thing to me is that it seems as if freedom of religion and expression are under assault only for those who adhere to the full counsel of the word of God. The degree to which groups and laws are able to silence God’s people is yet to be seen. But really, they never truly can. We may lose certain freedoms. We may suffer consequences. But no one can take what we hide in our hearts. No one can take our voice. No one can silence God’s mighty works in and through us. No one can contain God or halt His plans.

Look at what happened in Acts 8:1-4. After Saul consented to Stephen’s death, “a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria…As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. Therefore, those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.” 

Man's efforts to stop the gospel simply fueled its spread. Intolerance simply furthered the very message it sought to squelch. 

We, His people, must not allow fear to shut the mouth He desires to use. He will still accomplish His end. Satan loses. Every knee will still bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. It’s a foregone conclusion. In the meantime, how are we making ourselves available to Him?

Lord, may Your Holy Spirit teach us in every hour what we should say (Luke 12:12). Give us utterance that we would boldly make known the mystery of the gospel (Ephesians 6:19), and let us love one another that others will know we are disciples of Jesus Christ (John 13:35) as we become more wholly Yours.

Shauna Wallace

Holy His

A Heavenly End to Addiction (At the Mercy of the Mirror Part 4)

With any addiction, stronghold, or habitual sin, something other than Jesus takes top priority. Consumes you. Defines you. Establishes your worth. Determines your sense of happiness and well-being. Rules your emotions. And everything is affected. The way you see yourself. The decisions you make about how others perceive and feel about you. Your marriage. Family. Your children, and how they see themselves. How they define themselves. How they cope with the world around them. Your sense or need for control. Your job, friendships, and other commitments.

Fear drives you. Fear of what will happen if you stop or if you don’t. Fear of what will happen if people figure it out. Fear of being exposed. Fear of what you’ll lose. Fear of not having control. Essentially, fear of man – which snares or lures us away from God’s best for us – trumps trusting God, where we are safe (Proverbs 29:25) and satisfied from above.

And here we arrive at the most recent defining moment in my battle with bulimia as I explain in this excerpt from my book, Holy His: Hope for a Life and a Nation Wholly His:

As I studied the fear of the Lord, He gave me a powerful revelation through Proverbs 19:23: “The fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction; he will not be visited with evil.”

Each one of us is driven by the need to be satisfied. It is the very core of what we seek in life, and the Lord showed me that this central need for satisfaction that can only be met by the Lord Jesus Christ is what drives one to addiction. Either we will fear the Lord and find contentment in Jesus, or we will seek pleasure and fulfillment from the things of this world and remain empty, disappointed, and disgruntled.

The longer we continue to turn to anything or anyone but Jesus for the satisfaction only He can bring, the more likely we are to fall into the bondage of addiction. If we are walking in the ways of the Lord, fearing Him, and obeying Him, we will abide in His perfect satisfaction.

Proverbs 27:7 explains, “A satisfied soul loathes the honeycomb, but to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.” When the satisfaction of our soul is met through Jesus, we will be repulsed by even the best this world has to offer. We will not be driven to seek satisfaction from anyone or anything else, and we will not be visited with evil.

But if our soul is empty, anything the world offers, including that which brings destruction and death, will appear attractive. If we are Christians, and we are not abiding in satisfaction from above, we need to look at ourselves and see if we have lost the fear of the Lord and are looking to the world for fulfillment.

It’s more than just stopping or getting rid of sin in our lives. Yes, we must “put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” (Ephesians 4:22). But we must also “be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (verse 23) and “put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (verse 24).

The Greek meaning conveys a picture of one sinking into freshly made, brand new, unworn clothes. Disrobed of the old rags, in the fear of the Lord, we must clothe our minds and therefore our actions in new digs made of righteousness and holiness. 

If we don’t “put on the new man,” we are in danger of what Jesus describes in Matthew 12:43-45:

When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, “I will return to my house from which I came.” And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

In referencing this passage, I am not taking a theological stand on demon possession, and most especially of Christians. I’ll leave that for those much more scholarly than I. I am simple saying a life swept clean but left empty of Jesus is prime real estate for a devil’s playground.

To be satisfied from heaven is to fill the house with Jesus – Him as Lord, His word as the truth by which we live, breath, and have our being. Satisfied to the point where nothing else holds any attraction, not even the honeycomb, or the best this world has to offer.

Today, I am free. Really, really free. God’s word has proven true: Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and the truth has set me free.

“So if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

Need freedom? Seek Jesus. Put your faith in Him and Him alone. Nothing else will do.

Lord, open blind eyes. Soften hardened hearts. Give us wisdom and understanding. Teach us to fear You, and satisfy us from heaven as we become more wholly Yours today.

Shauna Wallace

Holy His