Accountability~Fortification Part One

I am in a sad part of Judges in my daily reading.  Judges 17:6 says, “In those day there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” The tribe of Dan still had not taken possession of their inheritance.

They sent out five spies. They came to a quiet and secure place called Laish. Judges 18:7 and 28 both say, “…they  had no ties with anyone.” No accountability leaves us vulnerable to the work of enemy. He looks for those who have isolated themselves from others.

Proverbs 18:1 says, “A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against  all wise judgment.” When a wild animal seeks prey and comes upon a herd, it will look for the weakest. It knows that if it can separate it, then it will be able to easily take it down. 

Let’s jump to Joseph’s testimony to his brothers. Genesis 50:20 says, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good…” The lies that we have believed keep us from experiencing the goodness of God. That is satan’s design. David wrote Psalm 34:8 which says, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!”

We ‘taste Him’ through intimate communion. He reveals His heart to those who keep His word ~  making it their own through obedience. John 14:21. We learn to trust Him and Him alone ~ wading through the deep waters of our hard trials. Psalm 18:16-19.

As we continue to implant His word, it becomes part of us ~ the power within that transforms our character. According to 2 Peter 1:4, we become a partaker with Him. We share in His nature to represent Him to others. Our lives may be the only Bible that they read.

James 1:21 says that the implanted word will save our soul. The Amplified says, “So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit receive and welcome the Word which implanted and rooted (in your hearts) contains the power to save your souls.”

Colossians 2:7 says, “Rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abound in it with thanksgiving.” How do the lies of the enemy get rooted in our hearts?

First they come through his fiery darts that we allowed to penetrate. Then they became part of our thought processes, and therefore our actions. We believed them, swallowed the lure and were hooked.

In a recent email from a mentee she expressed her belief that God is responsible for all the evil that has taken place in our world. Therefore why would she want to trust Him? Do you recognize the lies? 

We can read God’s truth and even speak it. However, inner transformation will not take  place until we make it our own ~ experiential. Ephesians 3:19 Amplified says, “(That you may really come) to know (practically, through experience for yourselves) the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge (without experience)…”

What does that look like? The verse continued, “…that you may be filled (through all your being) unto all the fullness of God (may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself)!”

I encourage you to implant God’s word into your heart in the areas that you struggle with. If you have believed that you are the exception to any of His truths, then you are being controlled by satan’s lies. The antidote is to make His truth your own experience ~ a testimony of Who He has become to you in that area.

Why then do we allow satan’s lies to keep us bound in the present? Romans 10:17 says that faith comes by hearing God’s word. That means that as we repeat His truth, it sows seeds of faith into our heart. The parable of the sower is explained in Matthew 13:18-23, and Mark 4:13-20.

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” As we speak His truth, faith rises in our heart to believe it. What we believe we speak according to 2 Corinthians 4:13. It is the faith-circle that implants His word to set us free.

The more we speak the truth, our faith increases, and the soil under the lie-roots is flooded. In the natural, floods often uproot 100 year old trees. Their foundation is rapidly swept out from under them. Truth causes the hidden lie-roots to surface so that we can renounce them and be set free through experiential truth. John 8:31-32.

I was singing a new song. As these words came, I repeated them over and over. “It’s Your love that has bound me to You Lord.” As I repeated them, I could feel a spiritual reverberation in my heart ~ revelation was being planted.

When I was young and into my adult years, I believed the lie that I was the exception. I knew that God loved you, but I didn’t have that assurance that He loved me the same. Though I renounced that lie years ago, this morning’s new song brought fresh revelation.

We get stuck in the mundane, the familiar, from the lies that control us from our past. The lines seem like the truth, and the truth seems like a lie. 2 Corinthians 5:17 is like a line drawn in the sand. Our past is passed forever. Five minutes ago is gone and cannot be reclaimed.

God remains faithful because He has no nature to be otherwise. Here is one of my favorite verses. I memorized 2 Timothy 2 when I was young. Verse 13 says, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.” Disobedience is unfaithfulness.

One way that we can incorporate and reinforce a faithful spirit is to do what we say ~ that our message and messenger are the same. That means we fulfill what we say we are going to do. We are proactive.

According to Psalm 34:11-14, that is the fruit of walking in the fear of the Lord. Verse 13 says it keeps our lips from speaking deceit. It starts with hiding God’s truth in our heart. Psalm 15 starts out with two questions about abiding.

Verse 2 says, “He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart.” The  end of verse 4 says, “…he who swears to his own hurt and does not change.”

Forgive as we have been forgiven is a command, not an option that we can ignore. Kindness is a fruit of the Spirit, and reveals a heart that is submitted to obey God’s word. Let’s take a quick snapshot of the Lord. Luke 6:35 closes with, “…For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.” Have you noticed that one with an unforgiving heart is usually not kind or thankful? They grumble and tend to remain in the negative. Disobedience sows weed seeds that propagate quickly.

Joshua obeyed every word that the Lord gave him. His last words to the children of Israel are found in Joshua 23:14. He wanted to remind them of God’s faithfulness. It says, “…not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed.”

Here is how we put on humility. Colossians 3:13 says, “Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”

1 Peter 5:5-6 says, “…Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.”

An unforgiving heart is the epitome or embodiment of pride. We are forgiven each one of our sins: past, present, and future. If the one who has sinned against us is a believer, then they have also received forgiveness for all their sins as well. All means everything without exception. We are to interact with grace through our mutual gift of forgiveness.

Ephesians 4:32 says, “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” A heart that is kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving pleases the Lord.

There is a warning for us in Hebrews 10:38 Amplified. It says, “But the just shall live by faith (My righteous servant shall live by his conviction respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, and holy fervor born of faith and conjoined with it) and if he draws back and shrinks in fear, My soul has no delight or pleasure in him.”

The seeds of rebellion flourish in the soil of a proud heart. Remember satan’s rebellion. In pride he lifted himself up, only to be cast down because of his haughtiness. Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

Humility is the forerunner to obedience. Pride is the forerunner to disobedience. Each is a choice made in our heart. 

Colossians 3:12 says, “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering.”