When I am out of synch (part 2)

Then again, there are many false gods that I won’t give up in favor of Him, because I believe He doesn’t see me. I struggle with using the internet chat rooms simply because I don’t think He’ll care, after all, nothing is going on in reality, all of what I did was fantasy. Ah, but what is in a person’s heart that defines that person. If I act and fantasize about something, given the opportunity how can I assure myself I won’t act out the reality of it? I cannot hide from God. (Ps 73:9,11; Ps 10:11,13; Ps 78:19,20; Ps 94:7)  I cannot and He will as a consequence not hide His wrath from me should I deceive myself in such a manner. (Ps 50:21) The truth is I would rather not face His wrath, and so I would just as soon do things His way. Call it fear. Call it survival. But the minute I don’t take God seriously is when I don’t understand that God is in control. And I never want to get to that point, even though I don’t understand Him and His ways, at least not totally. (Prove 30:7-9) I don’t want to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy off Is 8:21,22 when in my hunger and in all my despair I turn away from the one person that can save me from this. I don’t want to deny Him, even though my tendency is to do just that. What awful stumbling in the dark that is! Oh, how I need Jesus, to light my way, to show me how to trust God! And so this sentiment causes me to constantly consider: Do I refuse to worship false gods, such a power, position, money (Dan3:16-22)? Am I willing to go into the fires of hell so for what I believe, even and especially when all I have been blessed with on earth is gone? During the German occupation of Holland, Corrie Ten Boom put her faith on the line like this. She went into the hell of Ravensbruck and learned what it was to truly rely on God. (See the book, The HIDING PLACE, by Corrie Ten Boom) Do I trust God to know that if I don’t survive the fire, He’ll still be holding my hand and lifting me up to heaven to be with Him? Am I willing to be thrown into the lion’s den because I refuse to pay homage to a foreign god and will not discontinue acknowledging that God in heaven is the one true God? How brave am I?(Dan 6:11ff) And where do I get my courage? Do I allow satan to discourage me? Or do I ask God to encourage me? This is worship. The Greeks have a word latreuo meaning “to serve, to render religious homage, etc.” Do I adhere to Phil 3:3 and proclaim that all the confidence I have is not in the flesh but in the Spirit of God?