March 23, 2025

The Real Battle Is Our Desire

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - The Real Battle Is Desire

I prayed and asked,

“Jesus lived without sin, but how?”

I believe the divine response was,

“because He desired nothing besides the Father.”

Jesus was fully God and fully man. And, though He was fully man, His singular desire for the Father kept Him in perfect obedience to the Father and in harmony with His divine nature.

We who have received His divine nature can—by His grace: His nature, His power, and His guidance—walk in obedience to the Father as He did.

But why don’t we walk perfectly in obedience? Why do we repeatedly fall into sin?

Meet your opponent: your desire.

“But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
— James 1:14-15

What did Jesus have that allowed Him to walk in perfect obedience that we should also diligently strive for?

A singular, undivided, uncompromising desire for God alone. We should desire nothing besides God.

But, what does that look like?

Imagine a circle representing the Kingdom of God, and imagine within that circle another circle representing the life of Jesus Christ. Now include another intersecting circle representing the life of Peter.

When Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ this is represented by the part of Peter’s circle that intersects with the Kingdom of God. But when he attempts to convince Jesus not to die, this represents the part of Peter’s circle that is outside the Kingdom of God.

All the while, all of Jesus is within the Kingdom, including how He must die, and He rebukes Peter for tempting Him to go outside the circle of God’s Kingdom (His will), which is sin.

One of the biggest takeaways should be even though Peter was coming from an undoubtedly genuine place of care and kindness for someone he loved, it was ultimately evil because Peter’s desire was misplaced, and if followed, would have damned us all—just like the original Adam.

This is what God is dealing with me on. He has brought me to a point in my walk where my goal is to desire nothing besides God.

Lord, make me a man after Your own heart!

Does this mean I don’t love my family, my brothers and sisters in Christ, or you?

Remember the earlier Scripture from James 1:14-15? Read the very next verses:

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
— James 1:16-17

When God is our sole desire, we love what is in and we love from within God.

“If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”
— 1 John 4:20-21

That’s loving what’s in God.

“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, “that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
— Matthew 5:44-45

And, that’s loving from within God.

The goal is union rather than intersection—for God to be our whole desire, with nothing outside.

This is a picture of perfection, and the means of acquiring it: the heart God gives—Christ’s heart—that desires God alone.

The real battle is desire, and the stakes couldn’t be higher—our endless, unhindered enjoyment of God starting right now.

#perfectourlove #spiritualwarfare #TheRealBattle #desire

March 22, 2025

How Interruptions Reveal Our Heart

When we say what the reason is for the things that we do, what comes first in our lives, and when we say things like, “We do what we do for our kids” or, “We’re keeping God first”, we often deceive ourselves. It is often a vicious lie—a good face to rationalize and justify our real, selfish and evil motives; a totem to mask our idols and the demons that we serve.

The hearts we’re born with, being powerless to resist deception, become agents of deception—a medium of the propaganda of and a means of control for the prince of the power of the air, “deceitful above all things, desperately wicked”—and are therefore not to be trusted.

So, how can we discern the real reasons for the things that we do and what is actually first in our lives?

Interruptions and our reaction to them.

Interruptions and what they elicit in me—irritation, anger, frustration, annoyance, hate—reveal my true priorities and what I’m really seeking.

Whatever is being interrupted is a greater priority than the interruption.

I own a business. I started it to provide for my family.

One day I was picking up my son from school. He may have been in kindergarten at the time. As we were walking to the truck, my son, with a backpack almost bigger than he was, was dawdling about, walking listlessly. But I was in a rush to get to my next appointment and I yelled at him, “Would you come on here?!” I remember how that frightened him by the sudden startled look in his eyes, as the rushed spirit in me became the rushed spirit in him.

I cry writing this.

And as I think back, his little face indicated that he had something on his mind, but I missed that because, my son, someone I truly love—the one who I claimed to be working for—in that moment became the interruption.

How?

Lies block love.

My heart was not guarded and I fell prey to the lying suggestions about what I should want according to this world: who I should be, what I should be doing, what I should have, and it established in my heart a new pursuit.

And just that quick, the lies supplanted what should have been my priority in that moment—my son—by subtly seeding a desire for a different one. It’s that insidious.

I was made aware of it by the grace of God that allowed me to see a priority that I had allowed to become an interruption.

The guard we have against this now is the same guard there’s been since the dawn of man—loving God which is obedience to His Word.

The way we combat the deception of our hearts is by loving God—by abiding in Christ, who is the living Word.

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
— Hebrews 4:12

In His presence, all the shadows of our hearts are illuminated and our hidden motives are brought to light. The ultimate battle is to resist competing, deceptive and corrupting “loves” which is anything besides God. And as we seek to love God alone—with all our heart, mind, soul and strength—He rightly orders everything else so those things that should be priorities no longer become interruptions.

#perfectourlove

March 20, 2025

52 Weeks Of Gratefulness #12 – A Confession

In Week 12 of 52 Weeks Of Gratefulness, I give thanks to God for a confession.

Today, I attended the Men’s Lunch that is held on Thursdays at New Horizons Christian Fellowship at 1010 Victory Lane in Starkville.

It was one of the most beautiful times of Communion I’ve experienced this year, and it all began with a brother being real and opening our discussion with, “I struggle…”

James 5:16 says,

“Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

I don’t often see “confession” in our gatherings. Instead, we fall into churchiness and deflect or pretend that we’ve got it all together. In so doing we become guilty of what the Apostle Paul warns against in 2 Timothy 3:5 “having a form of godliness, but denying its power.”

Imagine being sick, going to the hospital, and talking about how bad someone else’s illness is. I’ll never get well doing that. We give up the power available to us when we do that. But all it takes is one person sick and desperate enough to cry out for help to change everything.

There is power in confession, there is power in prayer, there is power in His presence and He is present among His people.

“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
– Matthew 18:20

It is no coincidence that Matthew 18:20, quoted just above, is in the context of forgiveness. Hallelujah.

This brother’s confession released what God had already pre-ordained for this moment through brethren God had already prepared for this moment.

I can’t speak for the brother who confessed about whether he was healed.

But, I was.

I’m grateful.

#52WoG

March 20, 2025

52 Weeks Of Gratefulness #11 – A Token

In Week 11 of 52 Weeks Of Gratefulness, I give thanks to God for a token.

“That is so cool!”, I say to my wife as she pulls out her toothbrush.

I’m actually referring to her toothbrush cap that is a svelte transparent capsule with a clean silver inset. It looks like a product that came straight out of the Infinite Loop.

Today—a week or so later, I go to wash my hands and I’m greeted by this shiny capsule and a loving note.

It was the highlight of my week. I felt loved.

The fact that she heard me, she remembered, and took even one step out of her way to do that for me means the world to me. And this is not the first time.

So, when the enemy tries to convince me that I am not loved, I’m going to show him my toothbrush and recall the countless other tokens I’ve been blessed to receive.

While the token is disposable, the meaning is eternal.

I’m grateful.

#52WoG #love #expressions #marriage #perfectourlove

March 17, 2025

Knowing The Bible Is Not Knowing God

Communication is not a relationship but a vital part of building a relationship. A relationship is established when communication with a person and experience with that person converge.

The Bible is God’s communication to us. The Bible is vital but it is not a relationship with God. It is tragic to know the Bible inside and out but not know God at all—and this is sadly the case for many so-called Christians.

Two keys to relationship are awareness and attraction—to know a Person exists and the desire to know more about them (Hebrews 11:6).

The Bible is essential for knowing God but it is not a relationship with God. Relationship requires another key: experience.

It is in our experiences with God that we develop a relationship with Him.

Have you been with God? Is He with you now? What have you experienced with Him? What is He like? Who have you learned Him to be? How does His presence change how you live?

This is the focus of a Christian, not debating texts, straining gnats and swallowing camels, but how is my Communion with Him and His family being perfected?

Heed Jesus’ warning to the Pharisees,

“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”
— John 5:39

Don’t settle for the picture of Scripture when you can have the Person.

You can have a relationship with God. Moreover, it’s everything—without it you have nothing.

“He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
— 1 John 5:12

Take note that it’s not written, “He has ‘His words’ or ‘His works’ has life.” But what does it say? It says, “He who has HIM has life.”

There’s coming a day when a lot of people with seminary degrees, knowledge of the Hebrew and Greek, people who did “good” works will be rejected and condemned to Hell because they didn’t have Him.

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”
— Matthew 7:21-23

Does He know you?

Do you have a relationship with God?

Ask, seek, knock.

He wants to make Himself known to you (Luke 11:13).

Knowing the Person makes the picture more precious.

#Bible #KnowGod #perfectourlove

March 16, 2025

Free To Choose: My Father Will Not Let Me Fall

Very often I just want God to tell me what to do, step by step so that I don’t make a mistake.

But what God wants me to do is grow in His image.

And my choices are an opportunity to exercise His life in me—to love Him with my whole being: my heart, my soul and including my mind.

My Father wants me to skip, flip, run and jump—looking to Jesus as what’s possible, and to see where I can grow.

So, I will spread my wings for Him, and decisively take risks while looking to Him, trusting that He is ultimately guiding me.

We are free to choose in faith. Our Father will not let us fall.

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.”
— Jude 1:24-25

March 16, 2025

A Window To Our Heart

God sees our hearts (1 Samuel 16:7).

We can’t (Jeremiah 17:9).

Our circumstances are often a means God uses to show us [our hearts] (Deuteronomy 8:2).

If we humble ourselves, admit our blindness, and ask God for sight (wisdom), our responses to life will show us our heart—who we really are.

But that’s not the end of the story. Seeing who we really are in the mirror reveals where we’re not clean and what’s out of place so that it may be corrected (James 1:25).

No one looks in a mirror if there is no hope for improvement.

But God.

His purposes are to make us into His image (Genesis 1:26), conformed to the image of His dear Son (Romans 8:29)—glorious.

He will make us to shine like the sun (Matthew 13:43).

To be clear, it’s a work God does with a life submitted to Him—when in humility we see our sin in the mirror and confess it (1 John 1:9).

So I strive to be sensitive to when God holds up a mirror, including through my circumstances and my response to them. Though I often don’t like what I see, I should not hide, but in humility, confront, confess and let God do what only He can do.

He will not fail to make me beautiful (Philippians 1:6).

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
— 2 Corinthians 3:18

March 14, 2025

Heartstrings

What am I supposed to be doing right now?

As a member of the body?

Where is the Head?

Jesus.

He is about the Father’s business, making God known through love.

He is being obedient to God’s government and presenting a space where God’s kingdom is experienced that they may know God.

“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
— John 10:10

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
— John 17:3

In that greenhouse the Word is both communicated and experienced, and is where faith is born when it is received by the cultivation of the Holy Spirit.

Making God known through love that the whole world may be reconciled to Communion with God through Christ is the Father’s business.

It is something that has to be obeyed because I love. Which comes first, obedience or love, I do not know. Maybe they come together, they’re part of the same thing, integral to one another.

What I do know, is sometimes I will not want to, especially initially but the more I obey, the more I love.

“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”
— John 6:38

The battle is one of desire—following my heart or obeying the heart He gave me—it’s about making God the only thing that I want.

“I don’t want to” means my desire is misplaced. I am mindful of the things of men and not the things of God (Matthew 16:23). I overcome through obedience.

Loving obedience is THE weapon for an adulterous heart (James 4:4-7)—love and obedience that is only possible through His nature and His power granted by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

So in obedience, I take a cue from the Proverbs 31 Woman. I purpose to do all in my power at all times to provide for my Lord’s house, and to perform, promote and support His enterprise—the Father’s business.

This is what I’m doing right now.

#love #perfectourlove

March 12, 2025

Making A Divided Heart Whole

My heart’s divided.

My head is all over the place.

This problem. That problem. I’m pulled in a thousand different directions.

It’s hard to concentrate. I constantly jump from one thing to the other.

It’s difficult to stay on task because attacks are coming in from every side and each one feels like an existential threat, all the while I’m looking for THE problem to solve that will solve many, if not all, of the rest.

What’s the thing, if achieved, that will secure me, that will remove the terror of death and give me peace?

Sudden ruin is the anxiety of my heart.

To defeat a demon, you must make it take shape by uncovering its name.

What, exactly, am I afraid of?

I’m afraid of:

Someone dear to me languishing and dying in poverty and my having done nothing to improve their situation.

Losing my job.

Losing my clients.

Not having enough money to pay for our house, our cars, our bills, our streaming services, our debt, to keep the lights on and to have enough left over to enjoy any semblance of life such as eating out and taking an occasional trip for a change of scenery.

The discontent of others.

The disapproval of others.

Being unworthy of respect because I failed to achieve financial success.

Being alone.

I cast the demon out by bringing it into captivity of Christ.

“But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.”
— Matthew 12:28-29

I accept Christ as King who is stronger than my enemy.

“[…] on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
— Matthew 16:18

I then die to this world to be released from being acted upon as its subject and am raised up to sit with Christ who reigns in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6) and acts upon it—the government of Hell shall not prevail against the government of Heaven.

I accept the loss of all the things of this world and no longer work for them.

You can’t scare a dead man with death.

“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ”
— Philippians 3:8

And I focus on the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

I focus exclusively on gaining His character to be a vessel of His work—the blessed Oneness of all things in the Communion of God through Christ. And I trust Him for the rest.

“And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.”
— Luke 12:29-31

The irony is, while I’ve been anxious, He’s been doing this all along. Imagine the joy and peace I could have enjoyed if I had trusted Him all this time instead of worrying and fretting?

I confess this sin and repent. Additionally, I die to the world and accept whatever loss comes with that. If in the course of following Christ it dies, it dies. I will not allow it to make me turn back.

“Remember Lot’s wife.”
— Luke 17:32

I will work with a heart committed to fostering Communion and bringing everything in my sphere onto the mat—into the order of God’s government so that they may experience His wonderful kingdom.

So, however small my sphere starts, the question is how does my love for God and what have I learned of Christ about how to govern inform how I use what’s in my hand at this moment to provide for my sphere and bring it into His kingdom order for the purposes of glorifying His wonderful name and drawing all men unto Him in Communion?

“He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?

No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
— Luke 16:10-13

I want the true riches.

Practically, the way I provide for my sphere may look the same as any one else earning a living, but the reason and my reaction to the results will be drastically different, leading to drastically different outcomes—even materially, but especially spiritually.

The reason.

This is how I focus—remembering the Treasure I seek: God alone.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.”
— Matthew 5:8

This is how a divided heart is made whole.

#anxiety #love #perfectourlove #GoodWorks

March 11, 2025

Stay On The Mat

Love (noun – what it is): God’s government.

Love (verb – how it works): Obedience to God’s government that presents a space where the recipient of love experiences God’s kingdom.

I refer to that “space” as “the mat” and my goal is to meet people there.

The mat is love.

While these are not exhaustive lists (I hope to expound on this later), what is on that mat is joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

And what is NOT on the mat is bitterness, evil speaking, malice (Ephesians 4:31), selfishness, envy, unforgiveness, sexual immorality, (Romans 1:29-31) and things that may surprise you like truth that is not spoken in love.

This is deeply helpful to me. It helps me, at any moment, to orient myself spiritually and answer God’s first question to man, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9)

Love is obedience to God’s government that presents a space where the recipient of love experiences God’s kingdom.

My goal is “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” To make it real by presenting a space where others can experience it—the mat of love.

My goal is to stay on the mat.

#perfectourlove #heartwords #love