Drugs and Drinking no more, A 40 day program: Day 44
The Bible talks about how we should sacrifice as Christians. What does that mean? Today we will look at 2 people. Both of them pray about an hour a day. They have goals of quitting their addiction and finding their purpose. Mike is a hard core sugar addict and Sue is a hard core heroin addict. Both have had some success but both still have their struggles.
Saturday in December: Both of them get in their hour of prayer and both read the Bible. They have learned the value of strict planning for their day and both make it to 9:30 pm free from addiction. Mike settles in for about 90 minutes of “clean” TV but Sue has been hearing about Christian sacrifice. She decides to sacrifice some of her TV time and get in a bit more prayer. 15 minutes into her prayer time she is a little shocked but the clarity of her thoughts. The clarity of how mixed up her views of reality really are. A moment of clarity about what really should be going on in her life.
Why was this prayer time more powerful than the hour long prayer? She wanted to watch TV just as much as Mike but she sacrificed that time and tried to hear from God. If at that time 100 people prayed, maybe only 1 or 2 sacrificed anything at all. What kind of Christian warriors were the regular Christians who prayed? They were fluffy, normal, not ready for the war Christians.
Sue is still a bit of a mess but now God see’s Sue as someone who can someday be ready to do her part. When God see’s you as someone who someday will do your part – you are going to hear from Him. You still will have to put in a ton of work, make a ton of changes, make a ton of sacrifices – but now Jesus is as real to you as the room you are in. You still have sin habits but now you “know” the Holy Spirit is right with you – ready to help you. You “know” you are getting close to answered prayer. You feel like you need to improve in the area of righteousness but now you “know” that that is exactly what you want to do.
Tomorrow your challenges will be the same, but tomorrow you will still “know” what you want to do. That is a great advantage for tomorrow.
Mike made it through the evening without falling as well. But he got very frustrated while watching TV because he could not do the one thing he really wanted to do.
Which person do you want to be? To quit drinking and drugs easily, become a living sacrifice.
Margit Hannelore Roach noted the following:
A LIVING SACRIFICE
1.“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Rom. 12:1 -2.
- We know our BODY is the temple of God. The temple is the building in which God dwells. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” 1 Cor. 3:16
- LIVING means, not dead, alive, active, moving and pulsating with life.
- A SACRIFICE is an unselfish, giving up of one’s life. Matthew 16:25 says: “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” Matt. 16:25
- HOLY — Set apart for the services of God. Be ye holy, for I am holy. It says, we are holy because we are the temple of God. 1 Cor. 3:17
- WORLD — do not become one with the world. Forget the things of the world, as much as it is possible.
- MIND — “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Rom. 8:6
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” Psa. 51:17. Contrite means sorrowful, crushed. We take a sorrowful attitude towards sin and fight to crush it.
“…Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; He shall dwell on high: his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.
The salt of the sacrifice is called, the salt of the covenant of God; because in common life, salt was the symbol of covenant. The salt had the power to preserve from putrification and corruption. Without salt we will be corrupt and we will decay.
So, is a living sacrifice. It will be alive. It will be burning with God’s fire. It will shine from within outwards for all to see. And “…because I live, ye shall live also.” John 14:19.
As we look at all of this spiritually, it comes down to this:
A living sacrifice cannot and will not die! Amen!
Margit Hannelore Roach
Read Matthew 16, and Acts 7-8
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Thank you for reading day 44 of this program, detox at home.