"A Clear Conscience"

Day #105 - 'A Woman of Faith' Devotional
Verse: "I will maintain my righteousness and never let go of it; my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live." Job 27:6 NIV

Whenever I hear the word 'conscience', my first thought is of the movie Pinocchio, where lil' Jiminy Cricket is Pinocchio's conscience. When Pinocchio chose to do wrong, Jiminy was upset, but had to let Pinocchio undergo the consequences because of his choice. Jiminy Cricket was there for Pinocchio, yet the temptations of the characters Lampwick and Honest John led him to follow evil desires, which led him to captivity with Stromboli, and life as a 'donkey boy' at Pleasure Island, instead of freedom and great living with his creator Geppetto.

WOW! It isn't until you think about things, and allow 'revelation from the Spirit' to become part of your thinking. Obviously your first thought is Pinocchio is like Jonah, who gets swallowed by a fish and lives to tell about it... but really it pertains to every person today. Pinocchio of course is the easiest to compare with, as he is just like us. Every man, woman, boy and girl has been created, and has choices to make. Geppetto of course is like God, he is the creator and loves his little Pinocchio no matter what. Jiminy Cricket & the Blue Fairy are a bit of the Holy Spirit, and the Son. Holy Spirit has been given to us to keep us making the correct choices in life, when we follow the will of the Father, we are making correct choices -- however when we make wrong choices and follow evil desires, we then have a guilty conscience, as Jiminy felt guilty for leaving him in his time of need. (Holy Spirit never leaves us -- same as Jiminy tried to search everywhere for him, and stuck beside him in the end) Stromboli is similar in sorts to the devil, and of course 'Pleasure Island' is like hell. Lampy and Honest John and the sort are just evil temptations that come our way from the devil himself. We will be held captive in our sin, and eventually fall into life in 'Pleasure Island' -- what seems pleasureable to the world, yet is a place of gnashing teeth and no pleasure at all.

Super cool thoughts eh? Obviously I do believe that Disney put alliterations into his movies, and one can pull different spiritual ideas into even things that are not so nice. Disney movies are a great 'fight' for the Christian and Non-Christian alike. People are always heard complaining about the 'evil' and the 'darkness', etc in the movies -- but its the truth of what is in the world, shown in a way to get even a young child to understand. Watching the movie Pinocchio for example, would make a young child today say, 'Well duh don't talk to strangers!', but our teens  & adults today are led by evil desires that drag them away and entice them, and they laugh at movies like Pinocchio, 'well that wouldn't happen in real life'... but in fact it is!

There's a Scripture in the Bible that says, "When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." (James 1:13-15) 

When your conscience/righteousness/integrity is questioned because of choices you have made, you need to try to make it right. We need to try to maintain our conscience/righteousness/integrity throughout whatever circumstances may befall us. Even when in cases where we are 'disciplined' for our actions, thoughts or words, we need to maintain our thoughts, words and actions and do not continue to choose 'wrong' thoughts, words or deeds. We need to walk in forgiveness and repentance, not bitterness. In everything we do, we need to choose to be 'better', not 'bitter'. (A saying that has come and gone and come around again in the Christian sphere, so I don't know who to give credit to, except I know it was 'Holy Spirit inspired' -- how come we don't write that, why do we always have to give credit to 'man'? ~~ another thought, another devotional.)

To keep a clear conscience we need to study the Word of God, and keep right relationship with the Creator, our Father in Heaven. Pinocchio had a great relationship with his father, but because of the relationships he had with Lampwick, Honest John, and Stromboli the feelings of guilt and unworthiness come up -- his integrity and character is now in question. He thinks his father won't love him anymore -- he lies to make himself feel better, and that makes his nose grow, and others can see that one lie leads to another, which leads further into sin. But one touch of the truth changes the circumstances, which leads him back into his father's loving arms, and then the Blue Fairy comes to make him a 'real boy'. When we allow God to love us for who we are and not what we've done, we become 'real' with God -- He clothes us in His robes of salvation and righteousness, and we again can have a truly unique relationship with the Father. Which brings us into another parable from the Bible - the Prodigal Son. No matter what the one son chose to do, or what kind of trouble he was in, he returned to the father, and the father ran to him with open arms accepting him back into the relationship that was once (and always will be) his. In the case of Pinocchio, I guess 'Figaro' could be seen as the other brother. LOL!

So no matter what we've done, or what we are tempted by - sin is sin and we have to figure out what our own temptations are, or where our own 'boiling points' are, what 'buttons' can be pushed to make us choose the wrong choices our of frustration. "Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or removes your relish for spiritual things -- that is sin to you." ~ Susanna Wesley

So allow God to cleanse and restore you, if you are on the road to 'Pleasure Island', or in the captivity of 'Stromboli'... and even if you are just walking with 'Lampy' or 'Honest John'... or tempted to walk with them -- Let God and His Holy Spirit lead, guide, direct and comfort you. Sometimes we feel discouraged in times of discipline or correction, but in the end we know it is done out of love, and that God our Father has BIG plans for us, and He can't wait until we choose His way and walk those out!

"God desires that we become spiritually healthy enough through faith to have a conscience that rightly interprets the work of the Holy Spirit." ~ Beth Moore

BE BLESSED & BE A BLESSING!

'ONE LITTLE SLIP' - James 1:14-15

Is there such a thing as 'one little slip'... Let's step back into Genesis, and meet Adam & Eve. When infact did the sin occur? Did the sin occur when the snake got Eve to take a bite, or when Eve got Adam to take a bite? Does it really matter? How many times did they sin after that? The devil told Eve that she wouldn't die, and when she didn't physically die, she gave some to Adam. Adam should have only touched the fruit when he threw it out of Eve's hands. They should have then & there asked for forgiveness and repented. However, because there was no physical manifestation, or consequence at the time, Adam chose the opposite, and chose to eat and live in his sin. Adam and Eve did die, spiritually, because God cannot dwell with SIN. During the time in the garden, Adam and God walked together, and spent close intimate time together. After this 'one little slip', God could no longer inhabit the same area as man.

Temptation is a thing that our 'flesh' loves. The devil knows this, and knows that we will be enticed, and eventually dragged away further from God our Father who loves us, which leads us into eternal death. The Word says, "...but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." James 1:14-15

Today, we have the same problems as Adam and Eve did. SIN entered the world that day, sin is a direct disobedience to God's Word. There are many things in God's Word today that we are not following, yet I am not delving right into all the traditions, and other stuff. Simple things like the 10 commandments, and living a 'good' life. Where in the bible does it say all you have to do is live a good life? My Bible says that "[Jesus] is the way, the truth and the life, and NO ONE comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6 NIV

Now, some sins that we take part in are in fact 'little slips', yet others we continue to do over and over without thinking until we realize it's time to repent. God is not so concerned with the 'one little slip' that you may do, and then repent for. Yet, he is very concerned with the ones that are enticing you and dragging you further from Him. His 'glory' or 'manifest presence' cannot dwell with SIN, and even the CHURCH today is full of unrepented sin. This is why we cannot experience God to the fullest.

More to come... gotta go back to work!

Sit back, and enjoy "ONE LITTLE SLIP" by the Barenaked Ladies... made famous in the movie, 'Chicken Little'.


Be blessed, and be a blessing,
~MiTz

Day 22: October 22nd, 2009 - - Proverbs 29:6

“POINTS TO PONDER” – Day 22
Written by M. Hall
Please feel free to agree or disagree with points made, and feel free to comment if so desired. If you would like, you could write your own thoughts on the verse of the day, and include that in your own comments below. Thank you and may you be blessed!! =)

Evil people are trapped by their own sin, but good people can sing and be happy. Proverbs 29:6 NCV

Did you know that your sin can trap you? But, there is a way out -- only God can set you free. I am glad to be considered a good person, for I can sing and be happy all day long. We just spoke in our last devotional about praising in all circumstances, and especially in challenges. WOW! What a day I had today… challenges galore with the precious little preschoolers. I needed to keep my cool, remain calm and peaceful and also joyful. That was a struggle and a half, having screaming, jumping, running, spitting Preschoolers inside on a rainy day. But as I said, I appreciate challenges. I was thinking to how my day would be without those challenging children, and I would really miss them. Deep down they are very precious and sweet children, who just have a rough time every now and then. Some of them have to get up really early and be dropped off at daycare early, and they are there all day long, and that in itself can be trying on a little body. So I always empathize with them, which poses to be a problem sometimes, and ignoring the behaviour doesn’t always work. But we managed to get through the day, as challenges help me increase faith, which helps me increase perseverance and patience! YAY GOD! A few of the mom’s even commented how I could remain so patient. It’s all God! =) Praise Jesus! But getting back to the Scripture above, I am a good person, and therefore I can sing and be happy in crazy circumstances.


Paul and Silas were put into prison, and while they were chained they sang praises to God. God sent an angel to unlock the cell doors, but not one of the men escaped. The guard came back very worried that he would be killed if the men escaped, and Paul reassured him that they all were there. Then Paul and Silas went to the guard’s home, and all his family was saved. WOW! The power of our praise, it can change the atmosphere! It has been said on many occasions that worship changes the atmosphere and attitude of those around. We should be able to notice other Christians just by their attitude and when they walk into a room the atmosphere changes. It should be the same with us and our Christian walk.


Getting back to the dreaded first part of the verse, ‘Evil people are trapped by their own sin’, I am reminded of a drama that our youth group drama team performed years ago called ‘The Chair’. The silent drama starts with an empty chair on the stage, and there is a sign on the chair that says ‘Do Not Touch!’ Several people walk by the chair and notice it, and then walk back one at a time to the chair. The first guy touches the chair, and smacks it with his hands, not getting stuck, then he chuckles and does it again, and he gets stuck. He starts to walk away, but the chair comes with him. Someone else comes by, and the guy is struggling to get his hand off the chair. They offer him assistance, and get stuck to the chair as well. A cute girl walks by and the two look masculine and manly pretending there is nothing wrong, but continue still to try and get free from the chair. The girl offers to help, but they don’t want any help. The girl walks on. Another person comes by and sees them struggling, offers help, sees the sign, touches the chair and gets stuck to the chair. Yet another person comes along, sees the chair, and the sign, and the others smiling and such, and then walks over to touch the chair, and the others silently act out ‘No don’t sit down’ by shaking their heads and they try to get them not to touch the chair. They end up sitting on the chair. The drama stage now has a bunch of people pretending to be stuck to the chair. A person with a Bible comes along and sees the chair of people. They are struggling, and so they look in their Bible, and show the people a verse, and act out leading them in prayer. The people on the chair pray one by one, some of the last ones still doubting. They roll their eyes; shake their heads, etc… while one by one the ones who pray are released from the chair. Finally, the last person (who was the first person) gets unstuck, and they all do a happy dance, and the ‘Christian’ kicks the chair over, and stuck on the bottom of the chair is the word ‘SIN’. Then the Christian reads the scripture found in James 1:14-15, “but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” It’s really powerful! It was one of my favourite ones to dramatize. I usually played the ‘Christian girl’. We cannot let ourselves get dragged away and enticed. For as we see it all leads to death and I choose life. As we have said before, and I’m sure you have heard many times, it all comes down to our choice. God gave us the power to choose. We have our own free will, and its that selfish fleshly mind-set that takes over and allows us to become enticed, and allows sin to conceive, which gives birth to death. Which is redundant in itself, but makes a lot of sense. Choose life with me today! Freedom = Life!


We can truly sing, ‘I Am Free’…



I <3 the NEWSBOYS!
Prayer: Lord, we thank You once again for all You do for us. Forgive us once again for the sins we have committed in thought, word and deed, intentionally and unintentionally, so that we may boldly enter Your throne-room. Thank You for giving us a way out from our sin, so that we are no longer trapped by it. Thank You for the freedom we can have through Your Spirit. Thank you for creating us to be good people. We praise You and we honour You, we sing and worship You for who You are, and what You’ve done. We will try to strive for complete joy in every circumstance, knowing that You walk beside us, and even carry us along the way. Thank You Lord that when we do look back and see one set of footprints, that you don’t let our hearts get discouraged, but that You encourage us, by reminding us that You carry us through those times of trouble. I ask for wisdom and discernment, to assist us when temptation comes our way. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever, in the name of JESUS, AMEN!

Be blessed and keep the smile on your face, the twinkle in your eye, and the love of Jesus in your hearts! <3 Shine and worship our Father in the darkness around you! Declare your FREEDOM in CHRIST!