​Judges 7:2 - The Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me.’ 

• What God Wants

God informs Gideon that if he went into battle against the Midianites with 22,000 men that the Israelite's victory would be dangerous. Their victory would fill them with pride. They would start to believe they were victorious because of their strength. God wanted Israel as He wants us to trust in Him.

Are we walking each day in faith so that no matter what enemy we encounter we can defeat it with God?
 
What prideful enemy are you facing today?

We have an enemy who is constantly trying to get us to believe that what we have accomplished we have done on our own. God wants us to trust Him and believe He is helping us daily. 

• What The Devil Wants

In 1 John 2:16, we are told that the three ways we will be tempted are through the Lust of the Flesh, Lust of the Eyes, and the Pride of Life. You will be able to place sin under one of these three categories. The devil has been very successful in getting God's children to sin.
 
Sin has conquered all people except Jesus Christ.  
 
Adam and Eve's sin in the garden, David's sin when he numbered Israel or Samson's sin of using his strength incorrectly, all three of these sins come under the Pride of Life.

I am sure if we will look at the sin that has conquered us we will find that it falls under either the Lust of the Flesh, Lust of the Eyes, or the Pride of Life. 

Are you going to be able to defeat these temptations by yourself?
 
The answer is "NO". We are going to need to trust the Lord to help us overcome the temptations the devil will use. Remember the devil is not omniscient (all-knowing).
 
Only God is omniscient.

So how does the devil always seem to know what temptations to confront us with that succeed?
 
The devil is very observant. He knows that to defeat his opponent he has to know their behavior. He has studied the behavior of God's creation and he has discovered how to get us to sin.
He has beaten everyone but ONE, Jesus Christ.

We, humans, are not too hard to defeat. Simply use one of the three ways mentioned above and he succeeds every time.

When tempting our Lord and Savior look at his plan.
 
He said to Jesus, "If you are the Son of God turn these stones into bread." He tried to get Jesus to doubt Himself and because Jesus had been fasting he slips in a Lust of the Flesh temptation. Turn the bread into stones if You are the Son of God. You have to be hungry. Your flesh has to be craving something to eat.

When that doesn't work he tries the Lust of the Eyes when he tells Him I will give you all these kingdoms if You will worship me.
 
Lastly, he tries the Pride of Life temptation when he says, Go ahead and jump from the pinnacle of the temple angels will save You. God will send His Angelic Air Force to swoop in and make sure Your landing is a safe one.

• What Do You Want?

It really comes down to this: What is it we want? Hopefully, we will all want to trust in God and not allow are accomplishments to lead us into sin.

Think on These:

Pride hides a man's faults to himself, and magnifies them to everyone else.

When success turns a man's head, it leaves him looking in the wrong direction.

Stay Pumped,
 
Gary A. Serago

Minister of God's Word

When You Have Faith You Don't Need This.

Mk 16:2-4 - Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. They were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?" Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large. NASU 
​

• All The Answers 

When you have faith you don't need all the answers. All you need is a desire to accomplish what it is you want to do.
 
These three women, Mary, Mary, and Salome, did not know how they were going to move the extremely large stone, but they didn't let that stop them from walking to the tomb.
 
I have been in way too many meetings where the people were frozen with fear to do anything because according to them they didn't have all the answers. They couldn't possibly be expected to make a rational decision without first investigating this issue.
 
Mary, Mary, and Salome had no idea how they were going to move the extremely large stone but that was not going to stop them from going to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus.

•  Surprise, Surprise! 

They were amazed when they arrive at the tomb and notice the stone had already been rolled away from the entrance. As you read on you will notice an angel is the one who rolled the stone away from the entrance for them.
 
Let me say it this way, "They had faith and God rewarded their faith by sending an angel to remove the stone." 

• What About Your Faith? 

Do you need all the answers before you will move?
 
Or are you like these three ladies?  

They had a partial plan. They waited until the Sabbath was over and then they bought the spices they would need to anoint Jesus' body.

They then travel to the tomb with the spices and were going to anoint His body except there was one problem. He wasn't there. He had resurrected.
 
They met an angel but didn't even know it. I wonder how many times we humans have met angels and didn't recognize them (Hebrews 13:2 - Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.)?
 
So what about your faith?
 
Do you have a desire, a passion, and a partial plan and as far as you are concerned that is enough. Have you launched out on your journey?

When you meet obstacles do you believe God will help you move them out of your way?
 
If so, that my friends is faith.
 
You don't have all the answers but you trust in God. You believe you will succeed and so you launch out from shore.
 
May you enjoy your journey and may every obstacle you encounter only strengthen your faith.
 
Think On These:
 
Faith is the daring of the soul to go farther than it can see.
 
Faith with works is a Force. Faith without works is a farce.
 
In all relationships of life, faith is worthless unless it leads to action.

Stay Pumped,
 
Gary A. Serago

Minister of God's Word

Heb 1:8-9 - But of the Son He says,
 
"YOUR THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER,
AND THE RIGHTEOUS SCEPTER IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM.
"YOU HAVE LOVED RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HATED LAWLESSNESS;
THEREFORE GOD, YOUR GOD, HAS ANOINTED YOU
WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS ABOVE YOUR COMPANIONS."  NASU 
​

• He Loved Righteousness 

Jesus loved righteousness. He loved doing what pleased His Heavenly Father more than pleasing Himself. He even says this very thing in the book of Luke:
 
Luke 22:41-42 - And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done."
 
The definition of "righteousness" is:
Holy and upright living, in accordance with God's standard. The word righteousness comes from a root word that means "straightness." It refers to a state that conforms to an authoritative standard. Righteousness is a moral concept. God's character is the definition and source of all righteousness (Gen. 18:25; Deut. 32:4; Rom. 9:14).
(from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright © 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)
 
Jesus lived according to God's standards and He never sinned because He loved doing the right thing every time.

He knew righteousness was a part of God's character and He mirrored God while here on earth perfectly. This is how the Hebrew writer states it about Jesus: "…And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature,…" (Heb 1:3).
 
When we love "righteousness" or doing what is "holy and right" every time, in every situation, we will sin less.

When we imitate Jesus we will be imitating the Father. When we imitate them we will sin less. 

• He Hated Lawlessness 

Jesus came to earth and obeyed God's law perfectly. He was not a lawless person but rather a lawful person. He never sinned therefore He never broke one of God's laws.
 
He had such a hatred for lawlessness this hatred led Him to be obedient to God's laws and not just some of them but ALL of them.
 
Because of His hatred for lawlessness, this led Him to be sinless, and therefore, He was able to offer Himself as a sacrifice to atone for the sins of mankind.
 
I hate that Jesus had to die for me but I am very thankful He did because this means by me accepting Him as my Lord and Savior I will not have to spend eternity in Hell separated from the God of all creation.
 
Thank you Jesus for loving "righteousness" and hating "lawlessness".
 
I am thankful now and will be thankful for all eternity.
 
I hope you my Pump Up readers have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. If you have any questions please respond to this email with them I will do my best to help you receive an answer to your question.
 
Think About These:
 
The road to heaven is never overcrowded.
 
There is a way to stay out of hell, but no way to get out of hell. 

Stay Pumped,
 
Gary A. Serago

Minister of God's Word