BBD 05.25.21 Spiritual Schizophrenia (Classic)

#1 · May 25, 2021, 10:50 am

Quote from Forum Archives on May 25, 2021, 10:50 am
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

Classic from 2001

The Burning Bush Devotional

25 May 2021

Spiritual Schizophrenia

Therefore
submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and
He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your
hearts, you double minded. - James 4:6-7.

In
Garland, Texas, Sherman Jackson was on his way to church with his
seven-year-old daughter a few weeks ago when a robber confronted him. Sherman
had stopped for gas when a man walked up and asked for help. His car needed a
jump-start and Sherman agreed to help him. However, it was not long before the man
had his gun out demanding all the money Sherman had. The man was not satisfied
with the money in Sherman’s money clip and became very agitated demanding more
money. Sherman began to pray and witness to the robber. He gave the robber a
Bible. The man gave back the money clip and the last Sherman saw of him he had
a gun in one hand and a Bible in the other.

What a
picture of the double minded! A man
with a gun in one hand and a Bible in the other. An agent with a drug task
force shared with me that he could not understand when they made raids why they
would find dangerous drugs and at the same time open Bibles and other religious
materials. There is an epidemic of the double minded. To be double minded is to
attempt to follow two opposite and antagonistic courses of action at the same
time. It is spiritual schizophrenia. The theologian, J. I. Packer, describes
the condition in this way: “People who
live compartmentalized [schizophrenic] lives worship God and go to church and
do their 'religious' bit on Sundays; then they switch that off and pursue their
professions, weekday work, weekend hobbies, and all their relationships as
though these were matters entirely separate from their Christian commitment.
They don’t even try to see their lives as a whole in terms of God and his Word.
Instead they slip into their religious compartment on Sundays and their secular
compartment of the other days of the week and allow no communication between
the two.”

How can
the double-minded change? James
tells us “Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify
your hearts, you double minded.” To wash
your hands deals with our physical outward actions. We must act right but in
order to act right there must be a change of heart. Our hearts must be purified
through our relationship with Jesus Christ. As the apostle Paul says in Romans 13:14 we must “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” or
clothe ourselves with Jesus. It must be a constant relationship, a constant
contact with the One, the only One that has the power to enable us for holy
living. We cannot live the Christian life in our own power. We need help and
Jesus is the only One who can help. “For in
that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are
tempted (Hebrews 2:18).”

Copyright © 2001 - 2021. Ed
Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On
June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.
Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of
those first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent
to prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the
Burning Bush website:

www.theburningbush.net

The Burning Bush websites are
celebrating 23 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to subscribers
across the world. At one time there were 18,000 subscribers in more than 70
countries to the devotional but that has now shrunk to around 9,000.

You can leave comments/feedback
about the devotionals at www.theburningbush.net.

There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top right-hand corner of all of the pages.

Check out the Scripture Index being constructed for the Devotionals at
the Burning Bush website. The Links are in about the middle of the home page.
Topics for each devotional are now being added to the Index.

Please pray for God to touch and
bring about His will in these lives: Caleb Freeman’ Pat S.; Buck & Barbara
Wright; GWEN PRUET; James Perkins and his wife; Vonnie; Evi Porter; Addison;
JoJo, Bailey and Nicky; Ralph and De Chapman; Hilary; Cody Stahlman; Patsy M.; Zoe
Marx Jones; Todd Higgins; Brandy and Jadyn’s Dad; Patricia Rohman and Lisa
Butler who has had a stroke; Scott J.; Karla W.; Clayton T. and Sarah; Clark
S.; Lana Bass; Matthew Collins; Marjean C.; Bradley E.; Fern McVey; Shonda Hutson
(fighting cancer); and please pray for my wife, Jeanie, who is having a problem
with her heart.

Please pray for the coronavirus
COVID19 pandemic to come to an end. Pray for treatments and a cure for the
virus to be rapidly found and deployed. Pray for all those afflicted to be
healed and for our leaders to have supernatural wisdom and ability to lead us
through this pandemic.

Please pray for an end to the
rioting, looting, wanton destruction, and the racial hatred in the USA and that
it will be replaced with peace and love. May God help the USA! Many prayer
needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page. You
can also post your prayer requests there (Of
course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for me. 03.18.18 I accepted the call to be the pastor of Fairview
Baptist Church in Elk City, Oklahoma. Please pray for me and for this church.).

You can contact Ed Wrather at
theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com

If you enjoy the devotional please
recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

There is a complete devotional
archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/DevotionalArchive.html.

Devotion vs Devotional: We do our
devotions, we read devotionals.

You can unsubscribe to the burningbushdevo devotional group by
sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond
to the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group (Because of time constraints
the devotional is only being sent now in html format) by sending a blank email
to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the
confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

--

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org

Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

Classic from 2001

The Burning Bush Devotional

25 May 2021

Spiritual Schizophrenia

Therefore
submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and
He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your
hearts, you double minded. - James 4:6-7.

In
Garland, Texas, Sherman Jackson was on his way to church with his
seven-year-old daughter a few weeks ago when a robber confronted him. Sherman
had stopped for gas when a man walked up and asked for help. His car needed a
jump-start and Sherman agreed to help him. However, it was not long before the man
had his gun out demanding all the money Sherman had. The man was not satisfied
with the money in Sherman’s money clip and became very agitated demanding more
money. Sherman began to pray and witness to the robber. He gave the robber a
Bible. The man gave back the money clip and the last Sherman saw of him he had
a gun in one hand and a Bible in the other.

What a
picture of the double minded! A man
with a gun in one hand and a Bible in the other. An agent with a drug task
force shared with me that he could not understand when they made raids why they
would find dangerous drugs and at the same time open Bibles and other religious
materials. There is an epidemic of the double minded. To be double minded is to
attempt to follow two opposite and antagonistic courses of action at the same
time. It is spiritual schizophrenia. The theologian, J. I. Packer, describes
the condition in this way: “People who
live compartmentalized [schizophrenic] lives worship God and go to church and
do their 'religious' bit on Sundays; then they switch that off and pursue their
professions, weekday work, weekend hobbies, and all their relationships as
though these were matters entirely separate from their Christian commitment.
They don’t even try to see their lives as a whole in terms of God and his Word.
Instead they slip into their religious compartment on Sundays and their secular
compartment of the other days of the week and allow no communication between
the two.”

How can
the double-minded change? James
tells us “Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify
your hearts, you double minded.” To wash
your hands deals with our physical outward actions. We must act right but in
order to act right there must be a change of heart. Our hearts must be purified
through our relationship with Jesus Christ. As the apostle Paul says in Romans 13:14 we must “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” or
clothe ourselves with Jesus. It must be a constant relationship, a constant
contact with the One, the only One that has the power to enable us for holy
living. We cannot live the Christian life in our own power. We need help and
Jesus is the only One who can help. “For in
that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are
tempted (Hebrews 2:18).”

Copyright © 2001 - 2021. Ed
Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On
June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.
Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of
those first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent
to prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the
Burning Bush website:

http://www.theburningbush.net

The Burning Bush websites are
celebrating 23 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to subscribers
across the world. At one time there were 18,000 subscribers in more than 70
countries to the devotional but that has now shrunk to around 9,000.

You can leave comments/feedback
about the devotionals at http://www.theburningbush.net.

There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top right-hand corner of all of the pages.

Check out the Scripture Index being constructed for the Devotionals at
the Burning Bush website. The Links are in about the middle of the home page.
Topics for each devotional are now being added to the Index.

Please pray for God to touch and
bring about His will in these lives: Caleb Freeman’ Pat S.; Buck & Barbara
Wright; GWEN PRUET; James Perkins and his wife; Vonnie; Evi Porter; Addison;
JoJo, Bailey and Nicky; Ralph and De Chapman; Hilary; Cody Stahlman; Patsy M.; Zoe
Marx Jones; Todd Higgins; Brandy and Jadyn’s Dad; Patricia Rohman and Lisa
Butler who has had a stroke; Scott J.; Karla W.; Clayton T. and Sarah; Clark
S.; Lana Bass; Matthew Collins; Marjean C.; Bradley E.; Fern McVey; Shonda Hutson
(fighting cancer); and please pray for my wife, Jeanie, who is having a problem
with her heart.

Please pray for the coronavirus
COVID19 pandemic to come to an end. Pray for treatments and a cure for the
virus to be rapidly found and deployed. Pray for all those afflicted to be
healed and for our leaders to have supernatural wisdom and ability to lead us
through this pandemic.

Please pray for an end to the
rioting, looting, wanton destruction, and the racial hatred in the USA and that
it will be replaced with peace and love. May God help the USA! Many prayer
needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page. You
can also post your prayer requests there (Of
course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for me. 03.18.18 I accepted the call to be the pastor of Fairview
Baptist Church in Elk City, Oklahoma. Please pray for me and for this church.).

You can contact Ed Wrather at
theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com

If you enjoy the devotional please
recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

There is a complete devotional
archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/DevotionalArchive.html.

Devotion vs Devotional: We do our
devotions, we read devotionals.

You can unsubscribe to the burningbushdevo devotional group by
sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond
to the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group (Because of time constraints
the devotional is only being sent now in html format) by sending a blank email
to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the
confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org