The New Life, Inc.

There are many things that can cause us to stumble and come to a stand still in our spiritual journey. The one that I want to look at in this session is very subtle and it can happen without us really being aware of it. Matthew speaks of it in Chapter 7:1 Do not judge lest you be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.

I don’t have all the answers but I do have some questions. When we judge people around does it affect us and our relationships?

What about when we judge ourselves, does it affect us and in what ways?

In Luke 6:37 And do not judge and you will not be judged; and do not condemn and you will not be condemned; pardon and you will be pardoned.

It seems to be so easy to become the judge. Once we judge, we condemn either ourselves or someone else. Once we have condemned ourselves, we have to punish ourselves or the other person we have judged. Condemnation and punishment all go hand in hand.

I feel that in many of our homes, where we are having problems in our relationships, that judgment, condemnation and punishment is happening.  And we are really not aware that that is what the real problem is.

I remember an incident where a person was speaking about another member of the family and making it very clear that this person did not have the Lord. I was very aware that this person did have the Lord. I spoke up and said that is not the truth, this person knows the Lord. That person lit up like a Christmas tree. The first person had passed judgment and it was wrong and was affecting the family relationship. This is happening in so many Christian families.

Are you passing judgment in your family? Nothing spiritual about that!

When I become judge I cut myself of from God, I lose my peace and joy, and revert back to the natural mind.  I am not to pass judgment on myself or on others, we are to leave judgment up to God. God is the only one that can make a right judgment, our judgments are wrong.

Defense Or Defenseless! 

When I awoke this morning, the Holy Spirit was telling me it was time to do another spiritual growth message. I have learned that a very important part of spiritual growth is being obedient. When the Lord tells you to do something; you don’t say; “I can’t do that”, you say, “When, and how?”

When we were in England a few years ago we saw many castles, some were intact, and some were utterly destroyed. What were these great castles built for? They were built to live in, but more important for protection. We all seem to have a desire to be safe. I think for the most part it is kind of automatic, if you see a car coming at you, you get out of the road without giving it a lot of thought. You start to climb something and start to feel insecure and you back off. Many times we will do something with a group that we would never attempt alone.   

When I was looking at those castles they kind of reminded me of prisons. Back in that time it was a lot like today; a lot of wars. If you were in one of those castles and it was under siege it was like you were in a prison. In the prison system they have discovered that a long term prisoner may not want to leave the system. Why? It has become his castle, his protection from the world.

We want some protection. We want some defenses.  Now we have begun a spiritual journey, do we need protection there? Certainly we do! Is a castle or a prison going to protect us there? No! Our enemy; Satan, the principalities and powers of darkness can enter any castle or prison with no problem.

I shared all this to ask a question. What is your castle? What is your prison? What are you trying to protect yourself from? At a certain time in our spiritual journey we must come out of our castles and our prison’s. If we don’t, our spiritual journey comes to a stand still.

You might reply; “I am a free person!” unaware that you are in prison and behind castle walls in many areas of your life. I ask the question; Are you often defensive?  Are you always trying to prove you are right?  Do you always feel you are under attack? Maybe you are in a castle. Are you afraid to step out? Maybe you are in a prison.

The Lord has blessed us with the protection we need. “Put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11). Read Ephesians and see what the armor is. We don’t need a castle to protect us and we don’t need a prison with guards. We can boldly go out into the world and into the spiritual realm in the armor of God and not be afraid.