How to Overcoming Lethargic Spiritual Disease and Habits?
By Abraham Israel
“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot." (Rev 3:15).
Many times in our spiritual lives, we become lethargic when we we are either regularly fed with good spiritual food or when we still have a desire to stay in our muddy hole of sin in the corner of our heart. God can only help us when we are willing to let go of our lethargy and are serious enough to receive salvation from our bondages. Ungrateful heart is a sign of spiritual disease creeping in to our lives. How many times when God reminds us to give thanks for all things at all times (1 Thess 5:18; Eph 5:20), we hardly give thanks for the good times and also start to fret, fume and feel frustrated by resisting the bad times and circumstances we go through? Even some other people who keep going on in this lukewarm spiritual mode, start to question God of His goodness and also complain about the Lord as though He is indebted to them in some way. It is not God's fault when we fail to give thanks for everything which includes both the good and the bad things that happen to us through God's sovereign appointment and then end up in the spiritually dry wilderness of lack of satisfaction and blessing.
All of our dissatisfaction is life is caused by the lack of attitude of gratitude toward God for all the blessings we receive day in and day out. If we are serious enough to see our own faults and ask God for forgiveness, He is ever ready to forgive all our sins and cleanse us from all our unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). The following short story will make this point very clear. While walking down the road one day, a turtle fell into a pothole in the center of a country road. He spun his little legs but couldn’t free himself. A rabbit friend came hopping along and offered assistance but no matter what they tried, the turtle remained stuck in the muddy hole. “It’s no use,” the turtle said. “There’s no help for me.” Various other animal friends passed his way but the turtle refused their help, believing his destiny was sealed in the muck of the hole in which he had fallen. He sighed, “It’s hopeless,” and pulled his head inside his shell. Then he heard a rumble. And peeking from his shell, he spotted a tractor heading straight for the pothole in which he sat. Without another thought, he scrambled out of the hole and across the road to safety. Later his friends saw him and asked, “How did you get free? We thought you couldn’t get out of that pothole.” The turtle replied, “Oh, I couldn’t … but then I had to!”
As we see in the above story, if we like the turtle are serious enough of the danger of the sin of lethargy and disobedience to God's instruction, we do not need to depend on others help or our own reasons for our failure that keeps us in bondage to sin, we will automatically jump out of the muddy hole of sin in which we are caught. Sin thrills but always kills us in the end.
Pastor and author Charles Stanley states, “The initial thoughts the devil sends to us may be just a toehold the first time we entertain those thoughts and dwell on them or fantasize about them. The longer we entertain the thoughts, however, the more likely we are to start making mental plans about how we might act on them. It is then the toehold of an idea becomes a foothold. The more we develop plans for acting on a sinful idea or temptation, the more we find that the foothold has become a stronghold. We come to the place where we feel compelled to try out the idea in our behavior. We come to the place where we want to act on that idea more than we want to banish the idea."
If we are serious enough to take our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ the moment the devil sent thought comes in to our mind (2 Cor 10:5), then God will be ready to give us strength to overcome our sinful lethargic thought which usually becomes a habit. If only we will realize how grave and deathly serious is the effect of sin to our spiritual lives, God will be very pleased and happy to give us continious help to overcome any sin. It is action time dear saints, do not wait until the crisis arises to come out of your bondages of lethargic sinful habits. Break free today in JESUS NAME! When you are serious enough to cry out to God and agree with God that the bondage you are in is a sin, God will immediately respond to your desperation (Psa 50:15). As you become serious enough to draw near to God by taking a firm decision to stand with Him against all temptaions, God will draw near to you (James 4:8). When sin knocks at your door, be hot enough spiritually to allow Jesus to answer the knock (Gen 4:7), I promise you that surely the devil will flee screaming and will be scurrying for cover. This is a simple thought of advise yet it will have a profound life changing effect of surprising transformation. Praise the Lord!
Many times in our spiritual lives, we become lethargic when we we are either regularly fed with good spiritual food or when we still have a desire to stay in our muddy hole of sin in the corner of our heart. God can only help us when we are willing to let go of our lethargy and are serious enough to receive salvation from our bondages. Ungrateful heart is a sign of spiritual disease creeping in to our lives. How many times when God reminds us to give thanks for all things at all times (1 Thess 5:18; Eph 5:20), we hardly give thanks for the good times and also start to fret, fume and feel frustrated by resisting the bad times and circumstances we go through? Even some other people who keep going on in this lukewarm spiritual mode, start to question God of His goodness and also complain about the Lord as though He is indebted to them in some way. It is not God's fault when we fail to give thanks for everything which includes both the good and the bad things that happen to us through God's sovereign appointment and then end up in the spiritually dry wilderness of lack of satisfaction and blessing.
All of our dissatisfaction is life is caused by the lack of attitude of gratitude toward God for all the blessings we receive day in and day out. If we are serious enough to see our own faults and ask God for forgiveness, He is ever ready to forgive all our sins and cleanse us from all our unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). The following short story will make this point very clear. While walking down the road one day, a turtle fell into a pothole in the center of a country road. He spun his little legs but couldn’t free himself. A rabbit friend came hopping along and offered assistance but no matter what they tried, the turtle remained stuck in the muddy hole. “It’s no use,” the turtle said. “There’s no help for me.” Various other animal friends passed his way but the turtle refused their help, believing his destiny was sealed in the muck of the hole in which he had fallen. He sighed, “It’s hopeless,” and pulled his head inside his shell. Then he heard a rumble. And peeking from his shell, he spotted a tractor heading straight for the pothole in which he sat. Without another thought, he scrambled out of the hole and across the road to safety. Later his friends saw him and asked, “How did you get free? We thought you couldn’t get out of that pothole.” The turtle replied, “Oh, I couldn’t … but then I had to!”
As we see in the above story, if we like the turtle are serious enough of the danger of the sin of lethargy and disobedience to God's instruction, we do not need to depend on others help or our own reasons for our failure that keeps us in bondage to sin, we will automatically jump out of the muddy hole of sin in which we are caught. Sin thrills but always kills us in the end.
Pastor and author Charles Stanley states, “The initial thoughts the devil sends to us may be just a toehold the first time we entertain those thoughts and dwell on them or fantasize about them. The longer we entertain the thoughts, however, the more likely we are to start making mental plans about how we might act on them. It is then the toehold of an idea becomes a foothold. The more we develop plans for acting on a sinful idea or temptation, the more we find that the foothold has become a stronghold. We come to the place where we feel compelled to try out the idea in our behavior. We come to the place where we want to act on that idea more than we want to banish the idea."
If we are serious enough to take our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ the moment the devil sent thought comes in to our mind (2 Cor 10:5), then God will be ready to give us strength to overcome our sinful lethargic thought which usually becomes a habit. If only we will realize how grave and deathly serious is the effect of sin to our spiritual lives, God will be very pleased and happy to give us continious help to overcome any sin. It is action time dear saints, do not wait until the crisis arises to come out of your bondages of lethargic sinful habits. Break free today in JESUS NAME! When you are serious enough to cry out to God and agree with God that the bondage you are in is a sin, God will immediately respond to your desperation (Psa 50:15). As you become serious enough to draw near to God by taking a firm decision to stand with Him against all temptaions, God will draw near to you (James 4:8). When sin knocks at your door, be hot enough spiritually to allow Jesus to answer the knock (Gen 4:7), I promise you that surely the devil will flee screaming and will be scurrying for cover. This is a simple thought of advise yet it will have a profound life changing effect of surprising transformation. Praise the Lord!
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