Delusions of Grandeur
An old fable tells the story of a proud Lion who was convinced he was the sovereign lord of all he surveyed.
He strutted around the jungle asking…
“ Who is the King of the jungle?”
The little Mouse answered, “You are sir”, and the Donkey said “You are sir”, so did the Monkey, Deer and Hippos.
When the Lion roared his question to the Elephant, the Elephant wrapped his trunk around the lion, whirled him about his head and crashed him into a tree.
The Lion got up dizzy and dazed and walked back to the Elephant and said…
“You don’t have to get sore just because you don’t know the right answer.”
Isn’t that just like us? We are sure we are in control. We are certain we are the King (or Queen) of our jungle.
We insist on our delusions of grandeur even when we are thrown down and crushed. We rationalize, excuse, deny and even forget the Truth.
Then the reality of our condition becomes all too obvious. That’s when the Truth shines like a Lamp on our path…
We admitted that we were powerless and that only
Jesus Christ could set us free.
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:34-36
Jesus tells us in this Scripture that He has set us free from the slavery of sin something we were powerless to do ourselves and when we tried just like Paul did in Romans7, we found out just how wretched we were as he did but like Paul we realized Jesus was the only answer.
How wonderful that in Romans 8 and other Scriptures Paul confirms as we now know that by the empowering of the Holy Spirit we can put our flesh to death which causes us to sin by choosing to walk in Truth and righteousness and when we do we are empowered to by The Holy Spirit to do so.
God asks us to reckon ourselves dead to sin with confidence and know without a doubt as He confirms, No temptation will be greater than we can bear, we Trust in Jesus to deliver us.
This wonderful Truth is something Satan, who is like a roaring lion looking for someone to destroy, tried to keep us from finding out about so we would believe we would always be slaves to sin and either give up and justify the wrong we do, blame others or keep trying in our own strength not to sin and fail.
1 John 3:9 No one who is Born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been Born of God.
We have been set free … How good is that !
Thanks for the reminder ,Anne , to be careful of overconfidence in our own ability, to be duped into the view that we can do it all , ourselves . That’s why Jesus promised us the ,the Comforter , the Helper , and not for nothing , for he knew its not up to us , Thank you Holy Spirit !
Blessing
Ron
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Very True Love, we choose and The Holy Spirit empowers us, we can’t do it alone, if we could Jesus would not have to have set us free.
Christian Love Always dear – Anne
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What a lovely entry!
I so much enjoyed the way you started, Grannie! 🙂
We have been set free by the finished work of Christ on the cross.
We owed a debt we could not pay and He paid the debt He did not owe.
It simply takes believing, to be liberated.
There’s a lot of spiritual and mental slavery that only faith in Christ can dismantle.
Limiting ideologies, traditions and practices may have formed strongholds of the mind, but with faith, we are free!
With God, ALL things are possible!
We can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens us.
Best regards to Ron, Grannie Annie.
You blow my mind! 🙂
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Well Son I hope I don’t have to pick up all the pieces, Wow your mind is chock full of good stuff, lots and lots of wonderful pieces.
We are free indeed, free to be all God created us to be in Christ Jesus, thank you for sharing, I Love your faith filled focus Son.
Christian Love from both of us – Grannie Annie.
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Amen. No temptation is greater than Christ, nor will we be tempted beyond what we can bear. Such a reassurance Anne.
Blessings,
Shenine
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Hi Shenine how lovely to see you, thanks for visiting and yes as you wisely shared nothing is greater then Jesus in us, we do indeed walk in Victory over Temptation.
I’m so thankful that Jessie is improving – I will continue to pray.
Christian Love – Anne
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Great story reflection. As I read it struck some cords in my life. Thanks Ron and Annie. – Jeff
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Thank you Sharon, I’m pleased you could relate to this message, I was very challenged by the Story line when I first read it and so I had to polish up my crown, it was tarnished.
We do indeed continue to learn and the wonderful thing is God is very patient with us.
Christian Love from both of us – Annie
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This news is GOOD NEWS! I am so thankful Jesus has done what I could not. I stand free and complete in him!
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Hi Pastor J, I was coming to visit you tonight but left it too late, I will come tomorrow please put the jug on 🙂 seriously though I have been wondering if you had started to work through those questions yet, not that there is any pressure to do so, in your time will be the right time.
Yes we are indeed set free, your words like Marie’s are very wise, we have nothing to fear, when tempted we have the greatest defense, nothing can penetrate it, Jesus is our Armour and He has given us all we need to be victorious, yes as you said, in Him we are complete, this is what Paul and all Jesus disciples and followers in the early Church had assurance of, they knew they weren’t half saved, they were fully saved and they showed they were, not because they had to but because they wanted to, it was their passion..
Christian Love from both of us – Anne
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Thanks for this check in Anne. I am still formulating my plan for the answers. I had done a study on the process of sanctification a while back and I was wondering how to modify it to fit your questions as blog posts.
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As I shared Pastor J , there is no pressure , in your time will be the right time, I’m very thankful that your not just pushing them aside but seeking to respond to them.
Bless you – Anne
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Thank you!
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How good is that you ask! Jesus is MY shepherd and because He is the roaring lion can be put out and away. I truly think the biggest problem we have with trust is ourselves. Grace upon grace to you, Anne!
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Very True Marie, Satan’s roar tunes to a squeak when Jesus indwells us, I walked in darkness for many years, afraid that I would sin and be lost, not understanding the Scriptures that assures us we won’t be, True heart repentance opens the door and it can’t be closed, now I also have total assurance that no Temptation is greater then Jesus’ empowering in our lives to overcome, when tempted I go to Him and don’t doubt that He will deliver me.
Christian Love Always – Anne
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