There is safety in discernment and danger without it.
Intuition is important in our walk as believers.
Intuition definition: "the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning."
God calls "intuition" discernment. If we have the discernment of Christ, Who lives in us, we will not be taken in by the wiles of the devil.
Psalm 111:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!”
Proverbs 3:13 “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding,”
Philippians 1:9 “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment…”
Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
Hebrews 5:14 “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”
James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
James 3:17 “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.”
Romans 12:2 " 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God."
Believers in Jesus Christ are called to be filled with the Holy Spirit, in this state we do not "react" to things we "respond."
When we are able to respond according to the Holy Spirit leading, we enjoy the blessing of a clear conscience no matter what evil people do or say to us.
Evil people are accusers, full of provocation to get us to react so they can feel justified in their abuse. It's perverted and wicked, but very effective in causing believers to fall into their trap. These people don't care if what they say or do is based on truth, they only care that they make you stumble. Causing others to stumble for their own personal power over others is the basest form of evil.
1 Peter 5:7-9 "…7 Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in your faith and in the knowledge that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.…"
Punishing believers for their righteousness is the favored tactic of the devil. Never defend yourself for doing what is right, just do it, remain silent and keep moving forward in your walk with Christ.
Revelation 12:9-11 "…9 And the great dragon was hurled down—the ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, he who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; and they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death.…"
We can choose how we respond to the tactics of the devil, we do not have to be a puppet on his string.
The biggest red flag of the "prosperity preachers" is their use of flattery to entice you into feeling good about yourself. Their goal is to get you to focus on all that you can get for yourself rather than loving and pleasing Christ.
When the focus is on how good we are, we are not likely to confess sin, we won't see ourselves as sinful, we will be filled with pride.
It is human nature to love being elevated, whether or not it's true becomes irrelevant.
Christ shows us our sinfulness that we might trust Him for cleansing. The devil works against any cleansing by making his target see themselves as special and worthy of worship.
God's principles are our protection against evil, the devil wants us to be disarmed so that our protection is removed.
