TRAPS

89060597-f42c-5ed8-a800-6863ee5800ad@trinity-aloha.org“> Aloha Saints, Family & Friends,   beloved of Jesus and me,   John 3

TRAPS:    WORTH CONSIDERING   From   Christian Berg,    2/26/22
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Monkey Trap,   I know this title is a unique way to begin a spiritual dissertation. With your patience, my train of thought will come together at the end.
Natives of Africa, Asia and South America have all discovered the same method for catching monkeys. The technique requires a gourd or large coconut which has had a hole drilled in it the size of a monkey’s hand; yet small enough that the monkey cannot remove his hand if he is clutching something. The gourd will be weighted down with small pebbles or chained to something so the monkey cannot run off with it. The natives begin by making a big production of inserting a treat into the gourd, in view of all the monkeys in the trees. One of the monkeys will then go to gourd insert his hand and grab the treat.  As he attempts to pull his hand out, he now realizes the hole is too small. Confused, he sits there, not willing to let go of the treat.
The natives now return with their clubs and walk towards the monkey. The monkey is very frightened. He screams.  He jumps up and down, yet he will not let loose of the treat. The monkeys’ instinct is to hold onto what it possesses and not let go. It seems so simple. The monkey merely needs to let go of the treat to be free. The monkey has made a very poor choice: his freedom for a prize that is not worth much.  The monkey is behaving out of instinct. He does not realize he is jeopardizing his future by holding on to the bait. We humans however ought to be able to keep away from such a trap. We ought to be able to recognize the danger of holding on to things which do not benefit us. We ought to be able to let go.

Unfortunately, most of the traps in life are those we create for ourselves. We hold on to things that do not serve us well. We hold on to past mistakes.  We hold on to insisting we are right; you are wrong. We hold on to anger, resentment and bitterness. We become emotionally attached to our possessions, sometimes placing them ahead of our own well-being.  We are much like the monkey. Our instincts make it impossible for us to let go. I am talking about mental or spiritual instincts that we have inherited from Adam at the fall of man. Instincts that are offensive to God, which have influenced our past and continue to shape our present and future.
These are the BIG 3 OFFENSES:

GUILT                    The past
UNFORGIVNESS     The present
FEAR                        The future

These 3 offenses are what keeps big pharma, bars and comfort foods in business. We are all living with at least one of the 3 spiritual offenses. We may internalize or bury these offenses with food, drugs, compulsive buying or staying extremely busy. That way we do not have time to think of how we are offending God.  These offenses are spiritual symptoms of rebellion and stubbornness, and they defile you before God. 1st Samuel says, “15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry,”   If we have these offenses in our heart we are tainted before God:   Mark 7:15 (NLT) It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.”   Lu 6:45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings out that which is good, and the evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings out that which is evil, for out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks.     I was very interested in the word offence, so I looked it up in Strong’s Greek Concordance and I was totally blown away by what I found:

OFFENSE Strong’s Greek Concordance #4625: SKÁNDALON; the means of stumbling, the method means of entrapment, i.e., how someone is caught by their own devices like their personal bias and carnal thinking. Also, skandalon (offence): a bait-stick for bait in a trap or snare.     So here is the bottom line.    We have a means to overcome our human instincts:    accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior.      This is often called being born again. From that moment of acceptance, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Through the power of this gift, our minds will be renewed.   When we accept Jesus, He places His Spirit into ours. We now have the ability to let go of that bait stick of guilt, unforgiveness and fear which satan clubs us with.  It is an ongoing process of releasing thoughts of envy, pride, fear, guilt, etc.  Jesus allows us free will to choose the bait stick over peace, joy and love.   Christian<><

More INSPIRING QUOTES    “If we walk away from risk to keep ourselves safe, we will waste our lives.”  – John Piper     “The measure of a man’s worth is the measure in which he no longer lives “to and for himself,” but “to and for Jesus Christ.” No more and no less!” – Major Ian Thomas      “Let God have your life; He can do more with it than you can.”  – Dwight L. Moody    “God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. The lips that uttered them may be closed to death, the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God, and God’s heart is set on them and prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; they outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world.” – E.M. Bounds    “Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitudes toward life. The longer I live the more convinced I become  that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it.” – Chuck Swindoll     “If today were your last, would you do what you’re doing?”
– Max Lucado   “The question isn’t were you challenged. The question is were you changed?”  – Leonard Ravenhill   “What we do today is more important than what we plan to do in the future.”  – Jack Hyles   “Why do we expect to be better treated in this world than Jesus was?”   – Leonard Ravenhill

Prayer for today.    Heavenly Father, Please help me and give me the Grace to be a part of the prayers of Christ Jesus my LORD to see your Kingdom Come on Earth as it is in Heaven.   Help me to be willing to lay my life down for you as Jesus did for me.  I would really love to experience HIS ultimate victory in enjoying HIS victory in the Rapture of the Church over sin, hell and the grave.  Help me my Heavenly Father to burn out for you rather than rot out in this world of fear, pride and disobedience.   In Jesus name, I ask it,   AMEN….

Yours, in HIS great Love and wonderful Grace and Mercy,   Ken<>< www.OhanaChurch.Life

There is but ONE Church of Christ Jesus as LORD,
All who Love, Honor and Obey HIM are Eternal Members.

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