BBD 09.06.05 Attrited
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
make this transition and during this time the old website will remain at the
current url http://www.theburningbush.org and the new website will be at the url
http://www.theburningbush.net. Both websites will remain active until the
transition is complete and new devotionals will be posted at the new and old
websites. All of the devotionals written during 2005 are available at the
new site. One of the new features is the ability to post your prayer
requests and praise reports automatically to the site.
The new website url is http://www.theburningbush.net
Join the Burning Bush Prayer Group! Send and receive prayer requests and be
a part of a great ministry. More than 400 wonderful people make up this
group. To join send an email to: BBPG-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please sign the GuestMap at The Burning Bush website. You can plant your
country's flag on the map and leave a message. You can find it on the front
page at http://www.theburningbush.org
The Burning Bush Devotional
1,668 New Subscribers since November 2004
09.06.05
Attrited
(Originally sent 04.02.03)
Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge
out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are
unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of
malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and
truth. - 1 Corinthians 5:6-8.
A word we are becoming more and more familiar with is: "attrited." The
military apparently is in love with the word as they speak of the enemies'
ability to fight being "attrited." Attrited comes from the Latin word
"attero" which means, "to wear away by rubbing." In battle the enemy is not
being rubbed away but is being bombed and shelled reducing their capability
to fight by reducing their equipment and numbers of soldiers. To be
"attrited" by an opposing force in war means you are being destroyed. We are
seeing it happen in Iraq with the destruction of tank after tank, artillery
piece after artillery piece, and the terrible cost of the loss of human
lives being destroyed one by one. Winning of a war takes place step-by-step
and inch-by-inch until the enemy can no longer fight.
Spiritually we are in a continual war, which never ends while we are upon
this earth. The enemy never stops attacking. He pounds away at us day by day
and night by night rubbing away at our relationship with our Lord. In his
novel The First Circle, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn quotes a Russian proverb: "It's
not the sea that will drown you, it's the puddle." In our spiritual warfare
it is not the eventual sinful act that destroys a person. It is much like
Lot living in Sodom being constantly exposed to the sinful acts of those
around him that wears us down. The Bible says that Lot's righteous soul was
"vexed" by living in the midst of such evil.
Our modern society is in many respects a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah. All
the evil present in Sodom and Gomorrah is present in our world today. The
more exposure we have to that evil the more "vexed" our soul will be. After
being constantly exposed to all that evil we may give in at a point of
temptation. The enemy will take advantage of that breach of defenses and
attempt to exploit this weakness by making the one time failure a continual
and eventually a habitual failure. Eventually when the failure has become
habitual we will have developed a "besetting sin." At this point we have
become "attrited." The "leaven of sin" Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 5 can
be equated with the process of being "attrited." Just a small amount of
"leaven" can cause great problems over a period of time just as it did for
the Corinthians.
When we have become "attrited" or "leavened" how can we ever reverse what
has happened? Of course we need to truly repent - turn from our sin. We need
to confess this sin to our Lord (1 John 1:9) and He will forgive us. Then we
must fight back. We must use the spiritual resources that God has given us
to use to step by step defeat the enemy, attrit the enemy, until we have
gained victory. James tells us that we must "resist the enemy" and when we
do "he will flee from you (James 4:7)."
James says we are to "draw near to God (James 4:8)." What do you think would
bring you closer to God? Would faithful attendance in church every time
there is an opportunity bring you closer to God? Would reading, studying,
memorizing, and meditating on the Word of God take you closer to God? Would
spending substantial amounts of time each day talking with your Lord bring a
greater closeness to Him in your life? Would serving God by ministering and
witnessing to those around you allow you to be closer to your Lord? Most
likely you know the answer to every one of those questions. So, if you have
been attrited you already know what you need to do. The question really is
will you do what you know you need to do, you know you ought to do, and you
know God wants you to do? It really is up to you. Will you fight? Or, will
you let the enemy control your life?
Copyright © 2003-2005. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the
devotionals on a non-profit basis with source credited. 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.
Please pray for the following, the full prayer requests are at
http://www.theburningbush.net: Jim Orange, Sue, Joshua, Alta, Richard, Alicia,
Amanda, Joey, Madison D and add'l requests, Rita's family, Mona's family,
William, Marc, Morgan, Ashleigh, Jason's family, and Mark.
The Crossmap Christian Search and Portal is a wonderful resource. I would
like to encourage you to visit this great site at ww.crossmap.com. Crossmap
has recently added the Burning Bush Devotionals to their site. You may visit
Crossmap's sister website, the online version of the Christian Post at
http://www.christianpost.com.
If you have a Christian website you are invited to add the link to my free
links at the Burning Bush website. The Bravenet free links is near the
bottom of the front page http://www.theburningbush.org.
If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org
Streaming Videos of our services including my sermons are posted at:
http://www.theburningbush.org/fbcswvideo.html
There is now a webpage available at associate.com where the devotionals are
archived associate.com/groups/burningbushdevo. There is a complete
archive at the Burning Bush website and the address for the archive is
http://www.theburningbush.org/33.html.
You may subscribe to the pure text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org and you can unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-unsubscribe@welovegod.org You must reply to
the confirmation email.
You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-unsubscribe@welovegod.org You must reply to
the confirmation email.
Subscribe to the Burning Bush Prayer Group. Send and receive prayer requests
to over 400 members. Send a blank email to: BBPG-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe to the Burning Bush Inspirational Group. Send and receive
inspirational material to over 100 members. Send a blank email to:
bbinspire-subscribe@welovegod.org
Subscribe to the Burning Bush Restoration and Recovery Group for those with
addictions or recovering from addictions. Receive devotionals and
inspirational material directed toward those with addictions. Send and
receive prayer requests. Over 200 members. Send a blank email to:
tbbrr-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe to the Intercede Life Group and pray for and help in practical
ways those who need help. To subscribe send a blank email to
interclife-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.