{"id":14082,"date":"2023-08-21T19:58:24","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T19:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pjhmail.wordpress.com\/?p=14082"},"modified":"2023-08-21T19:58:24","modified_gmt":"2023-08-21T19:58:24","slug":"needs-vs-wants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/14082\/needs-vs-wants\/","title":{"rendered":"Needs vs. Wants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pastor John,<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cpearl\u201d from preacher Clark that was posted a few days ago was sobering, regarding being balanced enough in the Lord so that there\u2019s no difference between your\u00a0needs<\/strong>\u00a0and your\u00a0wants<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here in this bizarre city of Las Vegas, I\u2019m fascinated (and vexed) by the attraction that people have for embracing extravagance, excess, and sin on so many levels.\u00a0 Everything here is designed to provoke the \u201cwow\u201d factor.\u00a0 Technology has made it so that everywhere your eyes glance, there\u2019s media and advertisements and videos, most of them displaying ostentatious indulgence.\u00a0 And everyone takes it in stride, as if it\u2019s normal and harmless.\u00a0 The city is a vast and bustling playground for those who are seeking to have \u201cfun\u201d. \u00a0 Not everything here is sinful, in and of itself, but I\u2019d presume that most who indulge have sinful intentions and habits.<\/span><\/p>\n

The seduction of gambling isn\u2019t the only enticement (the\u00a0enormous\u00a0rooms with game tables and slot machines are overwhelming).\u00a0 Everything else is intentionally designed to lure all of the five senses as well.\u00a0 Absurdly fancy food, expensive dining and drinking, high fashion attire, diverse and perverse entertainments, and palatial architecture and decor to tantalize the eyes and amaze our spirits.\u00a0 What is it that drives human beings to \u201cdesire\u201d these things without considering whether they actually \u201cneed\u201d them?<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s all about the deceptive \u201cwow\u201d factor.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the midst of observing all of this, standing in the lobby of the hotel, I\u2019m smitten by the \u201cwow factor\u201d of\u00a0God<\/strong>.\u00a0 Grateful for and humbled by the gift of knowing God\u2014and\u00a0loving<\/em>\u00a0God\u2014 so thoroughly that all of these distractions are \u201cof none effect\u201d, as it is written.\u00a0 My spirit is not phased nor attracted to any of these indulgences.\u00a0 It almost makes me want to cry out loud and shout to all the passersby, \u201cThere\u00a0is<\/em>\u00a0something REAL and TRUE that can bring you joy, peace and contentment!\u201d\u2026 It\u2019s something they\u2019re all looking for, but their carnal minds are grasping for it in all the wrong venues.\u00a0 Nothing in this world can satisfy us, because it\u2019s all temporal\u2026 temporary\u2026ultimately unsatisfying.<\/span><\/p>\n

I am blessed, blessed,\u00a0blessed<\/em>\u00a0to be\u00a0satisfied<\/strong>\u00a0by the living holy spirit of God, and content in that.\u00a0 None of these temptations have any pull on my heart, and there\u2019s such a relaxed satisfaction in that.\u00a0 That, too, is fascinating to me\u2026to realize how much I\u2019ve been changed from my former self.<\/span><\/p>\n

All it took was a touch from Jesus! \u00a0 Nearly 30 years ago, he put in my heart and my mind a desire to put aside sin and step away from the clandestine behavior that had become so familiar to me.\u00a0 He convicted me, and drew me with an intense curiosity to be born anew, and relinquish the attractions that had held me in bondage for most of my life.<\/span><\/p>\n

To be clear, I never cared for the things Las Vegas had to offer even when I was a sinner, with the exception of an occasional theatrical entertainment.\u00a0 It\u2019s a godless, artificial place, and I always felt that, in my spirit.\u00a0 God protected me from its deceptive allure.\u00a0 Now, it\u2019s safe to visit, as an observer, unmoved by anything it presents; clean and holy in my spirit\u2026and genuinely happy.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m asking God for more balance in my life so that my wants and my needs are the same, with nothing excessive or impure competing for my attention.\u00a0 Gary\u2019s advice to the young people yesterday in the meeting can be effectively applied to us all: devote more time to knowing our wonderful God, while we are able!<\/span><\/p>\n

We owe Him everything for what He\u2019s given to us.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brad<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Facebook\"<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pastor John, The \u201cpearl\u201d from preacher Clark that was posted a few days ago was sobering, regarding being balanced enough in the Lord so that there\u2019s no difference between your\u00a0needs\u00a0and your\u00a0wants. Here in this bizarre city of Las Vegas, I\u2019m fascinated (and vexed) by the attraction that people have for embracing extravagance, excess, and sin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-netmail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14082"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14082\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}