Welcome to Pomoja Ministry. Throughout this journey,
we have been discovering that God's refining
work reaches much deeper than our circumstances.
We began by asking, what if the intervention
was about you? Then we discovered the fire reveals
what success can hide. We learned discipline
protects vision. And in our last conversation,
James chapter three showed us how refinement
must eventually reach our mouth because something
as small as a spark can burn an entire forest.
But today, I want us to go backward. Before the
fire. Before the public failure. Before the destructive
decision. Before the relationship collapses.
Before the leader falls. Before the ministry
is damaged. Before the family is wounded. Before
somebody wakes up asking, How did I get here?
Because collapse rarely begins on the day everybody
sees it. There was often something much smaller
before it. A thought, a conversation, an attraction,
an offense, an image, a relationship, a resentment,
a private compromise, a seed. And perhaps the
greatest danger of the seed is that it does not
look like the harvest it is capable of producing.
Today, We are talking about the seed that weakens
resistance. Remember this universal and biblical
truth. Before there is a harvest, there is always
a seed. We have spoken before about the theology
of seeds. Some seeds enter our lives without
our knowledge. Some seeds enter with our knowledge.
And some seeds remain because we continue entertaining
and watering them. Jesus repeatedly used seeds
to explain spiritual realities because seeds
carry something extraordinary, potential. When
you hold a seed, you are holding something much
larger than what you can currently see. A seed
does not look like a tree. A seed does not look
like a field. A seed does not look like a harvest.
But the harvest is already contained within its
potential. That principle works in both directions.
A good seed can eventually produce something
beautiful, but a destructive seed can also produce
something far larger than the original compromise.
That is why wisdom does not only examine what
something is today. Wisdom asks, what could this
become if I keep feeding it? Remember this truth,
the enemy does not always need you to fall today.
Sometimes we imagine temptation as an immediate
attempt to make someone abandon everything they
believe. But often the process is much more subtle.
The enemy does not necessarily need you to destroy
your marriage today. He only needs you to become
comfortable with a conversation that should have
ended. He doesn't necessarily need you to abandon
your calling today. He only needs you to tolerate
something that slowly weakens your convictions.
He doesn't necessarily need you to stop praying
forever. Maybe he only needs you to become comfortable
continually postponing prayer. He doesn't necessarily
need you to reject God's word. Maybe he only
needs other voices to become louder than God's
voice. He doesn't necessarily need you to become
bitter overnight. He only needs you to keep replaying
the offense. He doesn't necessarily need you
to become dishonest immediately. He only needs
the first small compromise to become acceptable
because once something becomes acceptable, resistance
begins changing. Resistance can be trained in
both directions. This is something we need to
understand. You can train yourself to resist
temptation, but you can also train yourself not
to resist it. Every time you establish a boundary
and honor it, resistance becomes stronger. Every
time you obey conviction, resistance becomes
stronger. Every time you walk away, resistance
becomes stronger. Every time you tell yourself
no, because purpose matters more, resistance
becomes stronger. But the opposite can also happen.
Every time you violate a boundary and nothing
immediately happens, the next violation can become
easier. Every time you ignore conviction, its
voice can become easier to dismiss. Every time
you return to the same temptation, familiarity
increases. Every time you justify compromise,
resistance weakens. This is why compromise is
so dangerous. It does not merely affect one decision.
It can train you for the next one. Think about
how compromise often develops. The first time
always felt different. The first time you were
uncomfortable. Something inside you said, this
isn't right. Your conscience was disturbed. You
prayed about it. You thought about stopping.
Maybe you even promised yourself, this will never
happen again. But then it happened again. And
the second time did not feel exactly like the
first. Then again. Eventually, the thing that
once disturbed you became familiar. Then what
became familiar began feeling normal. And once
something feels normal, We begin finding language
to justify it. It's not that serious. Everybody
does this. Nobody is perfect. God knows my heart.
We are only friends. I'm just looking. I'm just
venting. I can stop whenever I want. And without
realizing it, something has happened. The temptation
may not have become stronger. Your resistance
may have become weaker. This statement is true.
Compromise changes the boundary. Imagine a line
in the sand. At first, you know exactly where
the boundary is. You refuse to cross it. Then
one day, you step slightly across. Nothing dramatic
happens. So you move the line. Now yesterday's
compromise becomes today's boundary. Then you
cross again and move the line again. Eventually
you can be standing somewhere you once promised
yourself you would never go. And because the
movement happened gradually, you may not recognize
how far you traveled. That is the danger of progressive
compromise. Very few people wake up one morning
and decide, today I will destroy everything God
has given me. It usually doesn't happen like
that. They move the boundary. then moved it again,
then again, until eventually the distance between
conviction and behavior became enormous. Samson
gives us a powerful picture. Samson did not lose
his strength in one day. We often remember the
final scene. Delilah, the haircut, the Philistines,
the loss of strength. But Samson's collapse did
not begin with the haircut. Long before Delilah,
there was a pattern. Samson repeatedly moved
toward things connected to his vulnerabilities.
He repeatedly played near boundaries. He repeatedly
trusted his strength while neglecting wisdom.
And perhaps one of Samson's greatest dangers
was this. He kept surviving his compromises.
That can become dangerous. Because when consequences
do not immediately follow compromise, we can
mistake God's mercy for permission. You cross
the boundary and nothing happened. You compromised
and the ministry still functioned. You made the
decision and people still respected you. You
neglected prayer and the gift still worked. You
entertained the relationship and your life did
not immediately collapse. So you assume Maybe
this isn't really dangerous. But delayed consequences
do not transform compromise into wisdom. And
mercy should never be interpreted as God's approval
of what his word has already warned us about.
Be careful when gifting makes you feel invincible.
This becomes especially dangerous for gifted
people. Because sometimes the gift keeps working
while the person carrying it is weakening. Samson
would compromise and then still experience extraordinary
strength. Imagine what that can do psychologically.
I still have my strength. The preacher still
preaches. The singer still sings. The leader
still leads. The business still grows. The platform
still expands. People are still applauding. Doors
are still opening, and because outward success
continues, the person assumes inward compromise
is not serious. But success is not always evidence
of spiritual health, and continued gifting is
not permission to ignore character. Remember
what we have been learning. The fire reveals
what success can hide. Sometimes success allows
a dangerous seed to remain underground for years.
Think about the story if King David in the rooftop.
When David saw Bathsheba, the visible failure
occurred quickly. But the principle reaches deeper.
A king who should have been at war was at home.
He saw, he desired, he inquired, he sent, he
took. Notice the progression. There were multiple
places where the sequence could have stopped.
Seeing did not have to become inquiry. Inquiry
did not have to become sending. Sending did not
have to become taking. This is important because
temptation often has exit points, and discipline
recognizes them early. The longer you continue
down the sequence, the more difficult stopping
can become. So wisdom asks, Where is my earliest
exit? Not. How close can I get without falling?
But how early can I protect what God has entrusted
to me? Look at Eve's conversation before the
fruit. We often focus on the moment she ate the
fruit. But Genesis 3 records something before
the eating. A conversation. The serpent questioned
God's word. Did God actually say? Then the boundary
began being reconsidered. The seed entered through
conversation before the fruit entered through
appetite. That is powerful. Because sometimes
the dangerous thing is not yet what you are doing.
It is what you have allowed yourself to repeatedly
consider. A conversation can plant a seed. An
idea can plant a seed. A voice can plant a seed.
A relationship can plant a seed. Repeated exposure
can plant a seed. And once planted, the seed
asks for water. What are you watering? This may
be one of the most important questions of this
entire conversation. What are you watering? What
are you repeatedly thinking about? What conversations
do you continually return to? What offense do
you continually replay? What fantasy do you continually
entertain? What relationship do you keep feeding
emotionally? What content repeatedly enters your
mind? What resentment receives your attention
every day? What secret appetite are you negotiating
with? What compromise are you continually explaining
away? Because attention is water. Repetition
is water. Access is water. Justification is water.
Secrecy can become water. And eventually, the
thing you keep watering will grow. Do you know
that an offense can be a seed too? We should
not limit this conversation to obvious moral
temptation. Offense is a seed. Someone hurts
you. The pain is real. But then you replay it.
You rehearse the conversation. You imagine what
you should have said. You tell another person,
then another. Each retelling adds water. Eventually,
pain can become resentment. Resentment can become
bitterness. Bitterness can begin influencing
how you interpret everything the person does.
Now even neutral actions appear hostile. The
seed has grown. This is why forgiveness is not
pretending nothing happened. Sometimes forgiveness
is refusing to continue watering what happened.
This truth has been taught to us since we were
kids. Bad company can water bad seeds. First
Corinthians 1533 warns, bad company corrupts
good character. Notice the language. Corruption
is often a process. People influence what becomes
normal to us. Spend enough time around compromise,
and compromise can begin to feel reasonable.
Spend enough time around gossip, and gossip begins
sounding like conversation. Spend enough time
around dishonesty, and dishonesty becomes strategy.
Spend enough time around bitterness, and bitterness
becomes discernment. Spend enough time around
people who constantly dishonor boundaries and
boundaries begin looking extreme. This does not
mean Christians isolate themselves from everyone
who struggles. Jesus loved and reached people
everywhere. But there is a difference between
loving someone and allowing someone to shape
you. Not everybody should have equal access to
your inner life. Some people are being influenced
by you. Other people are influencing you. Wisdom
knows the difference. There is a danger we must
avoid in our Christian life. The danger of normalized
compromise. One of the enemy's greatest victories
is not always getting you to love sin. Sometimes
it simply gets you to normalize compromise. Sometimes...
It is simply getting you to stop being disturbed
by compromise. When something that once bothered
your conscience no longer bothers you, pay attention.
When you begin hiding things you once would have
openly discussed, pay attention. When you become
defensive whenever someone questions a relationship,
pay attention. When you have to explain why something
is acceptable continually, pay attention. When
you need secrecy to maintain something, pay attention.
When prayer makes you uncomfortable because you
already know what God may address, pay attention.
When you avoid people who hold you accountable
and gravitate toward people who affirm everything
you do, pay attention. Those may be signs that
resistance is weakening. Don't wait for the harvest
to deal with bad seed and its ramifications or
consequences. This is where refinement becomes
mercy again. God may expose the seed before the
harvest. And sometimes we become frustrated because
God interrupts something we were enjoying. But
what if the interruption is protection? What
if God exposes the relationship early? What if
God confronts the habit early? What if God makes
you uncomfortable early? What if someone asks
the difficult question early? What if conviction
becomes strong before the consequences become
visible? Do not despise that. That may be divine
intervention. God may be stopping at the seed
level. What would have been devastating at the
harvest level? The Holy Spirit often warns early.
One blessing of walking with the Holy Spirit
is that he does not always wait until disaster.
He warns. A discomfort. A scripture. A conviction.
A thought that keeps returning. A trusted person
asking a question. A boundary you know you need
to establish. Sometimes we want dramatic revelation,
but the Holy Spirit may simply be saying, Stop.
Don't go there. In this conversation, this relationship
is becoming dangerous. Don't send that message.
Don't keep looking. You need accountability.
Tell someone. Walk away. And discipline means
responding while the seed is still small. You
don't have to prove how strong you are. This
connects directly with our previous conversation
about discipline. You do not need to keep temptation
nearby to prove you are delivered. You do not
need to maintain access to what repeatedly weakens
you. You do not need to demonstrate that you
can handle a relationship that continually moves
your boundaries. Joseph ran, and sometimes running
is the evidence of wisdom. There are things you
overcome by resisting, and there are things scripture
tells you to flee. Sometimes the strongest person
in the room is the person who knows I should
not stay here. Listen to me carefully. This is
a call to restore your resistance. What if you
recognize yourself in this conversation? What
if resistance has already weakened? What if the
thing that once disturbed you has become familiar?
What if boundaries have already moved? What if
you have already watered the seed? Then hear
me carefully. This message is not announcing
your destruction. It is inviting you back. The
fact that God is revealing it may itself be evidence
of mercy. You can stop watering the seed. You
can close the door. You can confess. You can
repent. You can establish the boundary again.
You can seek accountability. You can remove access.
You can return to prayer. You can return to the
Word. You can ask the Holy Spirit to restore
sensitivity to your conscience. You can begin
strengthening resistance again. God's refining
fire does not only expose, it purifies. Don't
confuse mercy with permission. Maybe God has
protected you from consequences you deserved.
Thank Him. Maybe nobody knows. Thank him. Maybe
your family is still intact. Thank him. Maybe
your ministry survived. Thank him. Maybe your
reputation remains. Thank him. Maybe the door
is still open. Thank him. But do not turn mercy
into permission. Mercy is an invitation to repentance.
Mercy says, you still have time to change direction.
Mercy gives you another opportunity to protect
what compromise was beginning to threaten. And
perhaps the most mature response to mercy is
not, I got away with it. It is, God gave me another
opportunity to get it right. Listen to me carefully.
You must protect the seed of purpose. There is
another seed in your life, not only the seed
of temptation. There is the seed of purpose.
There is something God planted in you. A calling.
A vision. A family. A ministry. An assignment.
A future. And now two seeds may be competing
for water. The seed of purpose. And the seed
of compromise. Both want attention. Both want
access. Both want your time. Both want your imagination.
Both want your decisions. And eventually, you
must decide which one will I water, because you
cannot continually feed what weakens you and
expect what strengthens you to flourish. So today,
brothers and sisters, look for the seed that
weakens your resistance. Do not only examine
the big things. Look for the seed. Look for the
small compromise. Look for the conversation.
Look for the relationship. Look for the repeated
thought. Look for the offense. Look for the secret
habit. Look for the boundary that keeps moving.
Look for what once bothered you, but now feels
normal. And ask, what is this becoming? Do not
wait until the seed becomes a tree. Do not wait
until the spark becomes a forest fire. Do not
wait until the private compromise becomes public
destruction. Do not wait until resistance disappears.
If the Holy Spirit is showing you something,
respond while it is small. Close the door. Starve
the seed. Restore the boundary. Strengthen your
resistance. Return to prayer. Return to the word.
Return to accountability. Return to obedience.
Because discipline protects vision. And sometimes
the greatest act of discipline is refusing to
water something that could destroy what God has
spent years building. God may be exposing the
seed because He is protecting the harvest of
your purpose. That exposure is not necessarily
rejection. It may be intervention. It may be
mercy. It may be refinement. You are not being
exposed to be destroyed. You are being invited
to surrender what cannot accompany you where
God is taking you. The seed may be small, but
so was the rudder, so was the spark, and so was
the beginning of many things that eventually
became enormous. Protect your heart, protect
your boundaries, protect your character, protect
your vision, and above everything, protect what
God is growing within you. You are being refined.
You are being strengthened. Your resistance is
being restored. And you are being prepared to
carry purpose. You are being refined for a purpose.
This is Pamoja Ministry, and in our next conversation,
we will confront what happens when the seed has
been allowed to grow, and when someone's gift,
influence, or anointing becomes greater than
the character supporting it. Conversation 6 When
Character Cannot Carry the Anointing