As armadilhas do diabo (Series): David

As armadilhas do diabo (Series): David

As armadilhas do diabo: DAVI
Uma série tirada do Dr.. Carlos Stanley

(2 Samuel 11:1-17-12:1-10)

Essa semana, veremos os pecados do rei Davi, um líder militar de sucesso e um homem segundo o coração de Deus. Desviados pela luxúria, ele persegue ativamente a esposa de outro homem e se abre a todos os tipos de mal. Davi tenta esconder seu pecado de adultério com Bate-Seba, esposa de Urias. Ela fica grávida do filho de David, o que leva David a assassinar Urias. Deus envia Natã, o Profeta, para mostrar a Davi o erro de seus caminhos, e David é condenado. Embora, ele não escapa do castigo e das consequências de seu pecado. A vida de seu filho é tirada por Deus, e a espada nunca sai da casa de Davi (2 Samuel 12:10uma).

Através das Escrituras, observamos a rápida progressão do pecado na vida de Davi para que possamos aprender a proteger nossos próprios corações do diabo e de seus ardis. Ninguém está isento do pecado. Devemos fazer tudo o que pudermos para permanecermos imaculados do mundo, confessando os pecados diariamente, estando na Palavra e orando durante todo o dia.

O primeiro erro de Davi foi quando ele decidiu ficar no palácio na primavera, quando os reis costumam ir para a batalha. Um dia, entediado de deitar na cama, David decide caminhar até seu telhado, de onde observa uma linda mulher tomando banho. Quando não estamos fazendo o que Deus nos chamou para fazer e ficamos preguiçosos ou entediados, somos presas do diabo e seus demônios. Esteja sóbrio e vigilante porque seu adversário é o diabo, como um leão que ruge, anda em busca de quem possa devorar (1 Peter 5:8). Quem você acha que estaria morando perto do palácio de Davi? Provavelmente, seus guerreiros mais confiáveis. Ele pergunta sobre Bate-Seba e descobre que ela é filha de Eliam e esposa de Urias., ambos são membros das forças especiais de David, conhecidas como David’s Mighty Men. Ele os conhecia bem, pois eles serviram ao rei por muitos anos e sacrificaram suas vidas para mantê-lo seguro. Mas isso não impede David de persegui-la.

Vamos aplicar a situação de David às nossas vidas. Como eu me lembro, Eu tinha marcado minha consulta para fazer meu aborto, e eu sabia como me preparar para o próximo procedimento. Contudo, a caminho da clínica, Eu estava com tanta ressaca que parei para comer alguma coisa. Eu também estava dirigindo, o que mostra o quanto eu não sabia sobre os efeitos do aborto no corpo de uma mulher. Quando finalmente cheguei à clínica e descobriram que eu tinha acabado de comer, eles cancelaram o procedimento. Aqui estava Deus me dando uma saída. Mas eu peguei? NÃO! Remarquei meu aborto para dezembro 10, 1980, e no momento em que escrevo este artigo, semana que vem será 40 anos desde meu aborto. Eu deveria ter parado para reconsiderar o que estava fazendo, como David deveria ter feito, ainda assim, nenhum de nós fez. Como resultado, muitas pessoas sofreram um destino horrível por causa dos nossos pecados.

Deus lhe deu uma maneira de escapar do pecado, mas você não deu ouvidos ao Seu aviso?

Lemos que Davi envolve outras pessoas em seu plano pecaminoso quando pergunta a seus servos sobre a bela mulher e lhes diz para trazê-la de volta para seus aposentos.. Neste ponto, sua luxúria secreta foi tornada pública e conhecida por seus servos. Eles sabem que ele ama o Senhor, e ele está prestes a cometer adultério. Quando alguém está na liderança, ele ou ela é um alvo para o inimigo destruir, especialmente uma pessoa de fé em Jesus. Devemos nos proteger e ser diligentes porque o inimigo adoraria destruir nosso testemunho e nosso ministério. Guarde seu coração com toda diligência, pois dele brotam as questões da vida (Provérbios 4:23).

Como você se protege do inimigo?

À medida que avançamos na história, Davi elabora um plano para trazer Urias da batalha para casa, para que ele durma com sua esposa e pareça estar concebendo um filho, escondendo assim a gravidez de todos., exceto de seus servos e Joabe, seu comandante militar. Urias se recusa a ir para casa, para sua esposa, porque a Arca da Aliança e seus companheiros guerreiros ainda estão no campo de batalha.. Como resultado, ele não dorme com sua esposa, mas deita-se na porta do rei com todos os outros servos. Eles provavelmente estavam sussurrando, Não é esse Urias, marido de Bate-Seba??

Sempre que tentamos encobrir nosso pecado com outro pecado, nunca acaba bem para ninguém. Durante o tempo do meu aborto, Eu tive que esconder o fato de que meu namorado, o pai do meu bebê abortado, e eu estávamos morando juntos. Meus pais viriam à cidade para assistir à minha formatura na faculdade, então eu precisava encontrar uma solução rápida. No 3 anos que morei em Ohio, meus pais nunca visitaram, então pude viver como o diabo sem medo de ser descoberto. Mas o dia do acerto de contas estava chegando. When my sister called off her wedding in the summer of 1982, six months before my graduation, I decided to get married to cover up my sin. That way, when my parents came in December, my lifestyle would be acceptable. Looking back, it took many years of Christian counselling and recovery work for me to finally become the woman God created me to be. Over the years, my husband and I had a very rocky marriage and were on the brink of divorce twice. God graciously intervened, and now our marriage is stronger than it has ever been.

When have you tried to cover up your sin with more sin?

A famous quote, “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay and cost you more than you want to pay.”

Você é amado,
Toni

 

Leia mais postagens do blog de Toni aqui!

Obediência

Obediência

Romanos 6:23
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Romanos 2:4b
“Not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

John 10: 28
“And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.”

As a young child, I developed a strong sense of responsibility. I took on shame immediately for any wrong doing. My fear of authority figures caused me to become a people-pleaser. I was a very compliant child because I didn’t want to disappoint anyone, especially my parents. I yearned for love and acceptance so much so that I would do anything to obtain it. I developed an unhealthy thinking pattern and a false belief system because of what I witnessed in my home and in church. I saw those in authority—attributing their behavior to God—act very harshly when someone disobeyed the rules. Please read my blog, Pensamento fedorento: Minha visão distorcida de Deus. Como resultado, I obeyed my elders out of fear of punishment and rejection, not out of love or reverence.

I demonstrated good moral behavior until I reached the age of 12 when “the good, quiet one” persona no longer sufficed. I began rebelling against everything I knew was right. Because of my fear of rejection, I put a great deal of energy into not getting caught. You can imagine how I lived with many secrets and hid behind a mask. I lived a lie. At home, I played the role of the “good, quiet one.” However, in public, I got drunk, used drugs and started having sex at the age of 16. All of this culminated in my abortion at the age of 21. With a firm grip on my soul, the evil one led me down a path of death and destruction. Blinded by pride and deception, I believed that I could live a life of freedom by pursuing my own desires and pleasures. Contudo, the opposite was true. My life belonged to the devil. He would eventually use me to do the unthinkable—murder my own child. I firmly believe that if we truly knew the love of God and understood it, we would not seek love outside of marriage. We would feel cherished, whole, secure and free. We wouldn’t need drugs, alcohol and other empty vices to fill the void in our hearts because we have such a strong connection to the true source of love—Jesus.

God wants us to obey Him out of love, not fear of punishment. It’s the goodness of God that leads to true repentance and a relationship with Jesus—a relationship without bondage but true freedom. Striving to be perfect by obeying unattainable rules does not draw us closer to Christ. He desires to show us His way of love, graça, forgiveness and peace. I pray that we can share this message of hope with others. For God so loved the world that He gave His most precious gift—His only Son—to die for us. If that is not a picture of sacrificial love, then I don’t know what is.

I have found that true joy comes from obeying God no matter how I feel because my emotions can be deceiving. Being faithful to follow God’s lead in my life brings a long-lasting peace. Women often say to me, “I am really struggling in my relationship with Christ.” What I have come to understand is that the key to a strong relationship with Him is obedience. If you desire a more fulfilling relationship with God, then obey the leading of the Holy Spirit even when you don’t see how God can intervene in your circumstances. Remember that God’s ways are not our ways. True peace comes from obeying God. When we do that, we are safe and secure under His protective umbrella. He shields us from the enemy’s fiery darts, and no one can snatch us out of His hand.

In this season, we are embarking on a very important study, “In the Wildflowers,” which deals with the evil of sexual abuse. The enemy has been hard at work to derail this study. Tormented by the enemy, one of my family members has begun lashing out and attacking me verbally. Someone also attempted to take out a $75,000 small business loan in my name through identity theft. Stay close to God, dear one, because the enemy knows that many will be saved, curado, redeemed and set free. Obey God even when life becomes difficult and you struggle to understand His plan. Rest assured. You will be blessed.

Love you all,

Toni

Leia mais postagens do blog de Toni aqui!

Menos controle & Mais confiança

Menos controle & Mais confiança

Provérbios 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding: In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.

Who or what are you trusting in: yourself, another person, an institution, or God?

I learned at a very young age to take control of every area of my life, that unfortunately was not a good thing. A 12-year-old is not mature enough to take on such a responsibility. I controlled my voice, I did not use it, I controlled how I performed in school, sports, and in anything I set my mind to do by practicing until I could do something perfectly. When I was older, I controlled my weight by taking speed and diet pills and exercising excessively. I controlled what others perceived about me by wearing a mask to hide my true feeling and identity.

Relinquishing control was not a comfortable thing for me, because I didn’t trust others not to hurt me. I became very self-sufficient and proficient in all I did. I had a huge wall around my heart that no one was going to penetrate, not even God. I grew up with a distorted view of God; He was angry and He would punish me if I was out of line, this is what I heard and saw as a child. Church was dark, they spoke in another language, it was not warm and welcoming. então, I attributed these attributes to God. I felt He was dark and harsh and unloving; nothing could be further from the truth.

I had everything under control so I thought, until my life and health started spiraling out of control, I couldn’t stuff anymore and my health was failing, my marriage was on the brink of divorce, and I didn’t know what to do. I was plagued with suicidal thoughts because I just couldn’t deal with my depression and self-loathing anymore. This was not a life it was a prison; I was just surviving I needed someone to take my pain away, someone I could trust to love and accept me for who I was. Did such a person exist?

Dear One I want you to know that there is such a person, His name is Jesus, He is the only one who will love you right where you are, He will never hurt you or force you to do something against your will. He is kind, loving, dependable, faithful, merciful, forgiving, and He is your Savior and friend. Why not relinquish control of your life to God, honestly what do you have to lose at this point?

Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.

 

Bênçãos,

Toni

Leia mais postagens do blog de Toni aqui!

O Engano do Egoísmo

O Engano do Egoísmo

Genesis 3:6, Lucas 1:38, 2 Corinthians 12:9, and Hebrews 12:2

Selfishness is being consumed with thoughts regarding self and not being concerned about others and what the consequences of our actions would have on another person. Sin is pleasurable for a season, but it is very destructive to us and those who love and care for us.

Where did selfishness start? It started with Adam and Eve in the Garden, in Genesis chapter 3:6 we read, “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.” Eve’s desire to be like God knowing good and evil caused her to become self-absorbed and only thinking about what it could do for her and not what the sin would do to her relationship with God or her husband. She had no idea that her sin would plunge all of mankind into sin, despair, and death. Perhaps if she would have thought for one second prior to taking the fruit, wait God told me not to do this, He loves me and has provided everything I need. Why would I go against Him? The devil caused her to doubt God’s love. Instead she felt she was entitled, it was her right to this, and God was holding back something good from her. But the truth was He loved her so much He was protecting her, because He knew the destruction that would be done as a result of her choice. Just like with us when we had our abortions. God gave us a way to escape, mas não, we had our minds made up and we were doing this! All the while His heart was breaking for us because he knew our very souls would be shattered into a million pieces and we would be devastated and, we would struggle with our choice for many years to come. God allows us to make our own choices just like He did with Eve. God wants us to choose to love Him and obey Him.

I had a conversation with a pro-choice woman, and as we were talking, she said how much she loves children and that they are a gift. And I thought, how can she love children and still be pro-choice? Then it dawned on me that she has bought into the feminist ideology. The lie feminism tells women is, this is your body and your right to have an abortion. They do not want to be accountable to God, they want to be in control. They want to decide what is right or wrong for them and they want to be like God, just like Eve did. The world tells them whatever feels good, do it, you deserve it. They have put their selfish desires for control and have made themselves into little “g” gods, having control over their own bodies and destiny. They do not see that abortion is terminating a life. Instead they see it as self-serving and self-preservation and they are courageous for doing so. And they become angry when anyone tries to take their control away. Because deep down, they know it’s a baby, but they would rather sacrifice their child’s life for their selfish desires.

There is another woman in the Bible, who had a choice to be selfish or to obey God. Her name was Mary, the mother of Jesus. When she found herself with child from the Holy Spirit as an unwed teenager, she risked her very life because she should have been stoned, which was the law; or she would have been divorced from her betrothed Joseph. But instead she was courageous and said to the Angel in Luke 1:38, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” I pray we will look to Mary as our example, a woman of courage who loved and obeyed God, especially when it was hard, or inconvenient, or difficult; she never wavered. She showed us that God’s grace is sufficient and we can be victorious, if we keep our eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.

Thinking back to your own abortion, how were you selfish?
In what ways are you now trusting God and wanting to obey Him?

 

Bênçãos,

Toni

Leia mais postagens do blog de Toni aqui!

Sua vida foi ressuscitada?

Sua vida foi ressuscitada?

John 1:1,14, Titus 3:5, Lucas 1:28, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Matthew 27:3-4, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, and Colossians 3:1

For those of us who have suffered the trauma of abortion, can agree that every part of our being, physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional, has been broken and shattered into a million pieces. We found ourselves barely able to function and as a result we chose unhealthy mechanisms to cope with our state of despair; such as alcohol, sex, drugs, shopping, unhealthy relationships or anything that could fill the black hole in our heart. There is only one person who can pick up the shattered pieces of our broken lives and fill the hole in our heart and that is Jesus the only begotten Son of God. Have you truly met the Savior, the lover of your soul? Have you been led out of the darkness and chains, into His glorious healing light?

Where were you when you found Jesus? I was 34 years old and literally on my back laying on my couch for weeks at a time, and thinking this is not living, I am barely surviving, and wanting to end this torment of a life. My depression was so severe that I was incapable of getting on with my life and daily responsibilities. I was a broken, depressed, addicted, suicidal mess. On the outside, I pretended to have a perfect life, but inside I was dying and it became exceedingly more difficult to put on my mask every day. The only thing that kept me from formulating a plan to end my life were my 2 children who were very young, at the time around 7 and 8. I could not abandon them and leave them without a mother.

My husband had been on a quest to find the truth about Jesus and he was attending several churches in our area. In my desperation, I told him I wanted to attend church with him on one such Sunday. All four of us attended a small Baptist church in Browns Mills, NJ on January 2, 1994. For the next four weeks we would attend church as a family for Sunday School, Sunday Service, and on Sunday and Wednesday night meetings. My heart and mind were being saturated with the Bible, the Living Word of God (John 1:1,14). My Spirit was slowly being regenerated or reborn (Titus 3:5). My eyes and ears were opened and I heard things I had never heard before, and I had attended church my whole life. I heard that Jesus was born of a virgin teenager, a woman blessed and chosen by God, (Lucas 1:28) but no different from you or I. He lived a sinless life, (2 Corinthians 5:21) was betrayed by Judas Iscariot for 30 pieces of silver, (Matthew 27:3-4) was tortured and crucified on a cross, died, was buried and rose again on the third day. (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) He is alive and sitting at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. (Colossians 3:1) When I realized that Jesus loved me so much that He died for me and He took upon himself my sins and He willingly died for me. I was finally broken of my self-sufficiency and pride and I humbled myself before God and I asked Him to forgive my sins and I asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior.

The most memorable life transforming day of my life was on February 6, 1994 when I became a born-again believer in Jesus. I will never forget that evening after Church when I was of all things, smoking a cigarette in my garage; that addiction took longer to stop than my drinking which stopped immediately. It was a clear crisp beautiful February evening and looking up I saw the moon and stars and I had this overwhelming feeling inside that something happened, I felt my spirit quicken in me and I said, “I feel you in me, I am changed, thank you Jesus.” Tears streamed down my cheeks and I was filled with gratitude, love, and hope for the first time in my life, I felt completely loved.

Have you encountered Jesus?

Once you do you will never be the same.

Tell me your story, where were you when Jesus found you?

Bênçãos,

Toni

Leia mais sobre os blogs de Toni AQUI!