The Jesus Vibe: Crouching at the Door by Phil Ware

How did he do it?

How could he do what no other human being has ever done?

Where did he get this power?

How did he find the strength to overcome when all the rest of us have failed at some point along the way?

How did Jesus resist temptation and not give in to it and sin? How did he "do right" and "rule over" this power and not succumb to it?

Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it." (Genesis 4:6-7 TNIV)

Jesus was God come in human flesh (John 1:1-18). He was tempted just like we are and yet he did not give in to that temptation and sin (Hebrews 2:15).

But how did he do that? All of the rest of us who have faced temptation have come up short. How did Jesus have the strength to resist ... again and again and again? What strategies or tools did he use to overcome the schemes of the evil one?

Over the years, many have looked at the temptation story — found in the fourth chapter of both Matthew and Luke — and have pointed to Jesus' quotation of Scripture to correct, confront, and defeat Satan. Knowing Scripture was crucial for Jesus, as he remained faithful under these severe times of temptation and trial — notice Jesus quotes the Bible for each temptation thrown at him. If we pay attention to Jesus as he speaks, he obviously knew the Scriptures and used them in teaching, preaching, life, relationships, and ... temptation.

Knowing and applying Scripture in times of temptation is a powerful deterrent to sinning, stumbling, and failing. But surely there is something more than correctly knowing Scripture to help us? And if we go back to those stories of Jesus' temptation, I believe we will see at least one other thing that is crucial to Jesus' success in defeating Satan — to ruling over this monster that seems to be crouching at each of our doors.

More than knowing Scripture, Jesus knew the Father, his Father, who is behind the Scriptures! Jesus loved his Father with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength. He repeatedly talked about his relationship with God as Father. He even shared this relationship with his closest followers.

As Jesus faced his temptations, notice how the connection between Jesus and his Father plays a huge role in overcoming Satan's attacks. In the event recorded immediately before the temptation — in both Luke and Matthew — Jesus is baptized and God says, "You are my Son whom I love ..." Notice the first words out of Satan's mouth in the temptation, "If you are the Son of God ..." The evil one's goal was to chip away at the integrity of that relationship. Yet because Jesus kept his relationship with the Father vibrantly alive, he didn't have to question the Father's love and appreciation of him and his claim of connection to him.

Jesus entered his time of temptation prepared. He had heard the words of affirmation from his Father. He made his relationship with the Father his consuming passion. Prayer fed this passion. Prayer was also the place where Jesus surrendered his will over to the Father — remember the Lord's words in his Gethsemane prayer as he faced the Cross, "Father, not what I want, but your will be done."

God wants you to be his.
We are looking for something far more than a religious formula to help us victoriously deal with times of temptation and trial. We're seeking a relationship with God as our Father, our Abba Father, and using the strength of that relationship — our sense of identity, purpose, being loved, and much more — to face down the evil one.

Jesus taught this. Jesus lived this. Jesus demonstrated this. This is part of "The Jesus Vibe"!

Get to know the will of God in Scripture, but never think that knowing Scripture is enough. God wants you to be his. He wants you to know the confidence of belonging in his family. Sin may be "crouching at your door," but the Father knows you can "rule over it"!

In the face of temptation, what does it mean to "love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, and mind"?

How are you doing in your battle with temptation and sin?

What are some of your strategies to facing down the evil one and winning the war with the sin that is "crouching at the door"?

Do you remember the great line from Star Wars telling Luke to
"beware the dark side"?

Do you think that was just a fictional concept? Well I'm here
to tell you that "the dark side" is very real - and very dark!

What's worse, it's not nearly so "obvious" as it was in those
wonderful Star Wars movies.

You see, in this universe that God has created, there are all
kinds of "polarities." There's up and down, left and right,
in and out -- and good and evil, sometimes know as light and
darkness. This is why Jesus told us, 'I am the way,
the truth, and the light."

But make no mistake: Just as God is the ultimate source of
light and all good things, there is also one who is the
source of evil and all dark things.

We call him the evil one, the prince of darkness, the enemy,
Satan, the deceiver, the trickster, the devil...his names
are legion.

But one thing you can be sure of. He is NOT going to show up
in your life with horns, a pitchfork, and a pointed tail.

Why? Because that would be WAY too obvious! He isn't called
the deceiver for nothing, you know. And no matter what you
may think, every effort of yours to get closer to God and
His blessings will be noticed, and will be met with
resistance by the evil one or his minions.

Beware The "Dark Side!"

Question: Do you believe that both good and evil exist in the world today in a very real way?

I don't care what names or labels you put on them. I'm talking about the existence of forces that are fundamentally good and evil.

Do you believe that there is--right now--a battle going on in this world between good and evil?

And do you believe that it is possible to watch this battle from the "sidelines" without actually being involved in it or participating in it?

I promise you that it's not possible to be an "observer" in the battle between good and evil. One way or another, you are already participating, whether you are aware of it or not. There are no bystanders in the conflict. In this world, you don't have to go looking for evil. It will come looking for you.

The Only Question Is: What Will Happen When It Finds You?

The answer depends on your own level of spiritual development.

Born into a confused and troubled world, each of us unwittingly opened our young and trusting hearts to the energies all around us. Before we even knew what was happening to us, we were exposed to an astonishing variety of beliefs and attitudes—many of which we then unwittingly adopted as our own.

So, without even understanding what was going on, we became "home" to a host of ideas, concepts, and notions we had no role in forming, nor any way to evaluate or defend ourselves against.

Yet these very same beliefs and attitudes we never asked for and couldn't defend against would soon control every aspect of our lives. In short, our very experience of life--every day of our life--was going to be determined by beliefs and attitudes we didn't ask for, and never even saw coming.

But even worse, most of us are no more aware of these life-controlling beliefs and attitudes today than we were on the day we first adopted them. They slipped in below our radar then, and have remained undetected every since. Yet they continue to influence our every thought, every action, and every experience.

And they determine our daily, hourly, moment-to-moment experience far more powerfully than any conscious wishes or desires we may have.

In short, most of what we do and most of what we experience in our lives is the direct result of beliefs and attitudes we unknowingly adopted long ago, and which have been controlling our lives ever since.

We didn't create them! We just adopted them!

We couldn't evaluate them or even detect their presence. They may be totally inappropriate and irrelevant to the world we now live in. They may have been of no value at the time we first adopted them, and may have been detrimental to our welfare from the very beginning, becoming more so with each passing year.

I Ask You, Is That Any Way To Go Through Life?

No wonder our lives sometimes seem so confused and messed up. No wonder we can't seem to get what we think we want.

Now, the question isn't whether we adopted certain beliefs and attitudes in childhood. We did. All of us. And the question isn't whether we have beliefs and attitudes we aren't aware of (and have never really been aware of) but are nonetheless running our lives and determining our experiences to this very day. We all do.

The question isn't even whether some of those beliefs and attitudes didn't serve us very well then and may be still not be serving us well. They didn't and they aren't.

The question is, are we willing to continue to have our life experience determined by beliefs and attitudes we had...

- no role in creating

- no ability to evaluate

- no defense against adopting

- no understanding of the consequences of,

- and (to this very day!) no awareness that we're operating on.

In short, we are living a second-hand life, a life created for us each day by beliefs and attitudes we unknowingly adopted from others--whose own lives may well have been a mess.

You May Have Been Programmed To Fail

Before You Ever Really Had A Fair Chance To Succeed!

Is it any wonder your life is confusing and stressful? Is it any wonder you can't seem to get what you want no matter how hard you try?

Well all of this is the "Dark Side's" gift to you, just from being born into this world. Is it any wonder why the Bible tells us time and time again NOT to conform to the ways of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds? (Romans 12:2)

If all of this sounds a bit unnerving, just be aware that the Dark Side MUST yield to the Light whenever YOU consciously choose the light. So in the end—and even right now—the enemy has no power over you if YOU choose God instead.

If you want to live the life YOU want, just start doing things God's way!

Start doing things God's way is for you today!! Don't wait any longer! Don't let the Dark Side confuse and stress your life one minute longer. Today is your day!!

Peace be with you, and may God bless your success.

Dr. Frank B. Smoot, MA, DD

Question: The question I have is "How do I make Jesus the Lord of my life?"

Let’s use an "acrostic" with the word "Lord" to answer this question.

1. L - Love. Jesus says in Luke 10:27: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind." Jesus cannot be Lord of our lives if we are not willing to love Him with our whole heart and give Him our complete devotion. So often, we hold back as we are self-seeking and self-centered and are not willing to fully turn our lives over to Him. Obviously, this is a life time process, but we need to be making progress as we yield our lives to Him. So often, we can demonstrate our love for God through ministry to others.

2. O - Obey. Talking about Jesus, the writer to the Hebrews wrote: "… He became the source of salvation to all who obey Him" (Heb. 5:9). Disobedience brought sin and death to the human race. Christ’s death on the cross provided forgiveness and life to those who obey Him. Our will must be surrendered to God. Christ becomes Lord of our lives when we seek to do, say, and be what He wants. Peter said in Acts 5:29 that "we must obey God rather than men."

3. R - Rely. We read in Proverbs 3:5: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight." We are living in a world that relies on family, jobs, money, lawyers, psychiatrists, etc. Scripture tells us that we must rely on God. People and things can be helpful, but they cannot satisfy the needs of the soul. God can and will as we see in Psalm 37:5: "Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him and He will act." That’s a promise to us, and God’s doesn’t break promises!

4. D - Duty. Again, hearing the words of Jesus: "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest" (Matt. 9:37-38). So many Christians are all talk and no walk! Many fail in their Christian responsibility; they are unfaithful, therefore unfruitful. There are many commands in Scripture for Christians in terms of their duty or responsibility: "Make disciples" (Matthew 28:19); "Be witnesses" (Acts 1:8); "Be ambassadors" (11 Cor. 5:20); "sow seeds" (Matt. 13)—just to name a few. James said: "Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself" (James 2:17).

Here are a few "sayings" that might help us to understand this concept:

"Live so that if people get to know you, they will get to know Jesus better."

"Live so that when you tell someone you are a Christian, it confirms their suspicions instead of surprising them."

"Live so that the preacher won’t have to lie at your funeral."

"Live as if Jesus died yesterday, rose this morning, and is coming back tomorrow."

These are some of the steps you can take in "making Jesus the Lord of your life."