Dear TC-HOP Family,
God created us with a longing for the pleasure of being fascinated or awestruck and filled with marvel and wonder. Without a sense of awe, we live aimlessly and spiritually bored, and thus are vulnerable to Satan’s attacks. A spiritually bored church is weak. A fascinated believer is strong and equipped to face temptation.
We are designed to be pleasure seekers and we are fascinated most when we are fascinated by revelation of God. We cannot repent our longing for fascination, but we repent of seeking to fulfill them outside of God’s will. We will either satisfy it in God or in darkness.
The fullness of the gospel involves forgiveness, healing and fascination with Jesus’ splendor. When God the Spirit reveals Jesus to our hearts it has a powerful impact on our emotions. It liberates us from the tyranny of inferior pleasures by introducing us to superior pleasures. We must be preoccupied with a superior fascination. “In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forever.” (Ps. 16:11)
We sin because we believe that it will provide a pleasure that is superior to obeying God. The power of temptation rests on a deceptive promise that sin will bring more satisfaction than living for God. Scripture calls this the deceitfulness of sin or deceitful lusts. “…put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires.” (Eph. 4:22) John Piper says, “Sin is what we do when our hearts are not satisfied with God. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”
The best way to overcome the darkness is to turn on the light. The way for darkness to decrease in us is to focus on increasing the amount of light we enjoy. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”(Jn. 1:5) We will not overcome the darkness of immorality, bitterness and pride by focusing on it. We do not decrease the darkness in us by focusing on the darkness. We change our focus to become preoccupied with gaining more of “the light of the superior pleasures of revelation” of God.
The struggle for holiness must be the pursuit to stay satisfied with God. True holiness is not the result of gritting our teeth to resist sin, but the joy of encountering God in a spirit of obedience. We are most effective in our battle against temptation by enjoying God. We overcome by being satisfied in God, as we experience the superior pleasure of being fascinated with Him.
I want to overcome the inferior pleasures this world has to offer with the superior pleasures of God by being awestruck and fascinated in Him.
Come join us this week as we seek the Lord together at the TC-HOP.
Blessings,
Gary