Monday, September 28, 2020

Self Reflect or Remain Weak and Foolish

Those who are not able to self-reflect cannot change or grow! This ought to be the constant response to life for the born again believer.
1 Corinthians 11:31 "…30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 Now if we judged ourselves properly, we would not come under judgment. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.…"
Most people are not seeking God to show them where they fail and when others show them they become angry instead of learning from it.
This is why we see so many weak and worldly Christians, there seem to be more of them now than there are those who love to self-reflect to grow in holiness.
When you notice someone in their 70's and they are no more mature than they were in their 20's, it is strong evidence that they have been stubborn all their lives and have not grown in wisdom.
If we want to grow in holiness and please God more, then we must self-reflect to see if we are in obedience to the Word of God.
John 14:14-15 "14 If you ask Me for anything in My name, I will do it. 15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever—…"
The more we pray for God to drudge out of us the worldliness and show us our flaws, the more we grow. May we all be growing until the day we die.
Proverbs 3:4-6 Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

They Will Argue With God

Did you know that there will be arrogant self-righteous people who will argue with God at their judgment? Astounding isn't it?
Matthew 7:21-23
I Never Knew You
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Perhaps you are astounded at times because "Christians" argue with you to justify their sin. Don't be so surprised they will argue with God too one day when they face Him.
Notice verse 22 when they say to God; but God, "didn't we prophesy in your name and do miracles in your name." In verse 22 and in verse 23 God says this to them: "I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of iniquity."
Imagine the self-righteous religious spirit that has the audacity to argue with God. Why would we think for a moment that they will not argue with us when we use God's Word.
Many people are doing things they like to do and claiming they were for God. I am here to tell you that God is not impressed with the good deeds that are done to impress others and make us feel proud. He hates them, He will throw into hell those who are seeking their own righteousness apart from Christ.
Next time we are tempted to do good deeds we had better ask God if its what He wants us to do. If it is not His will then do not do that which God never told you to do. If you are doing good deeds because others are pressuring you then it is not for God, but for the love and adulation of man.
I have a phrase that God gave me many years ago when I felt the pressure from others to do certain things for God. My answer was "God has not told me to do that." When God tells me to do something it comes without warning and I am compelled with a strong sense that I should do it. I cannot disobey. Learn to hear God before engaging in something that sounds good or pleases people, often it is a trap to draw us away from His will.
Think about it! Just saying!

The Nation that will not Obey the Lord

Roe V Wade is not going to be abolished by another Supreme Court appointee. We have had presidents who claimed to be pro-life who refused to execute an "Emancipation Proclamation" regarding the lives of the pre-born baby.
If the present administration is truly pro-life he would take drastic and swift measures like those of President Lincoln, to abolish abortion.
This mess about getting baby steps to stop some of the abortions perhaps to move closer to eliminating all of them is nothing more than a cowardly ploy to appease those who will riot in the streets if abortion is abolished.
We know this because of the way slavery was handled in this country before the "Dread Scott" decision came down from the Supreme Court. There was fear of a civil war if it was abolished, just as there is fear of the same thing if abortion is abolished suddenly.
Remember when the liberals want to do away with a group of people they deem them as non-persons. That way they can eliminate them without conscience.
A godly president would not wait for baby steps, he would know how much abortion grieves the heart of God and quickly abolish the evil.
Please, do not give these presidents who were too weak to obey God any more excuses. When God tells us to stop sin he has never spoken of it in terms of stopping slowly and in increments. He wants the sin to stop RIGHT NOW.
1 John 3:4
"Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness."
James 4:17
"So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin."
Ezekiel 14:12-14 "12 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 13“Son of man, if a land sins against Me by acting unfaithfully, and I stretch out My hand against it to cut off its supply of food, to send famine upon it, and to cut off from it both man and beast,14 then even if these three men—Noah, Daniel, and Job—were in it, their righteousness could deliver only themselves, declares the Lord GOD.…"

The Goal of the Narcissist is Always to be Special and Above Others Even God

When a narcissist asks you how you are doing they are not asking because they care about you. They are asking to have information to be able to judge or pass misinformation to others to destroy your peace.
Sadly this is happening all too often these days. Since there is a growing number of narcissists in the world today because we are living in the final days before God's wrath, we will see this phenomenon of selfish pride increasing exponentially.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these."
Notice these are people who "have a form of religion" Its in the churches today on steroids. The pretenders are teaching people "do not judge", this keeps people from correcting one another as well as causing anger in those who do not want to be corrected.
2 Timothy 4:3 "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but having itching ears, they shall heap to themselves teachers in accordance with their own lusts."
When we care deeply about the principles of Christ and obey His word to correct one another, we will be met with much resistance.
A born again believer who loves Christ does not hide, they do not pretend and they receive correction with gladness. If we have studied the word of God and know the truth about a matter we have no reason to become angry, we can share, if the one who corrects us will listen, that we already know the answer because God has shown it to us. We can provide our scripture and have no need to be angry.
Those who are angry at our staunchness for the word of God will call us angry. The narcissist always places on their target the very thing the narcissist is displaying and the corrector is not.
Because the narcissist despises being corrected they are more interested in proving us wrong than they are in God's Word. Pride, the very sin that got the devil thrown out of heaven looms large in the hearts of many in the church.
When the narcissist cannot change our mind because we have studied and resolved a matter with God, they will begin the character assassination. They will leave the subject at hand while moving onto accusations about our character even when they don't know anything about our lives.
I have met many people who have encountered these frustrating discussions with narcissists. They do not discuss to learn our view or God's principles, they discuss to win and when they cannot win over you they will demolish your reputation with others.
We saw this happen with Christ and all the apostles. Christ was accused by Pharisees that He did His miracles by the power of the devil. It was the devil influencing their thinking and using their mouths, we can expect the same to happen to us.
Revelation 12:9-11 "…9 And the great dragon was hurled down—that 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.…"
I actually had a woman accuse me of not giving scripture to support my points when I had given her lengthy and many scriptures She accused me of what she was doing, she had not given me much scripture that supported her view, in fact, the little scripture that she had was snatched out of context and had little to nothing to do with the discussion.
When I explained that remarriage was called adultery by Christ, the answer that came back was that "we should love people." What she refused to admit was that correction from God's Word was love. We cannot love someone and allow them to remain in sin without challenging it. She was falsely accusing me of not being loving because I called a sin what it was, sin against God.
Hebrews 3:13 "13But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness."
Luke 17:3 " 3 Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him."
Let it be known that narcissists do not discuss anything, they argue to win. When we discover this is what is happening it is time to exit the conversation. We cannot help someone learn the ways of God when they refuse to pray and take a good look at scripture.
Pretenders and superficial Christians often quote mantras that are not Biblical as well as using partial scripture out of context to justify sin.
God encouraged me many times with people like this, He told me to speak the truth, do not respond to the accusations, and move on when the discussion is going nowhere good. When anger is emerging with accusations of character rather than proof of scripture, it is the big clue that you cannot reach this person with the truth. Then He said clearly, pray for them but avoid being a companion, this angst and domination is a part of their character. They need to be changed by Christ into a new creation so that when this happens they will love God's word and His commands. His principles for living become second nature to those who love Him.
John 14:15 "15If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. "
If the scriptures given here are not enough scripture for someone then they can go back to the passages and read the entire chapters as well as relating passages in the Bible to discover the truth. Also, keep in mind that we must place all passages and all chapters in the context of the entire Bible to understand God's commands and His Heart.
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When We Love God We Obey Him

When we love our master we obey Him, not out of guilt or gain, but out of love!
2 Corinthians 9: 6-8 "…6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each one should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not out of regret or compulsion. God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.…"
This principle of giving our money, our time, and our devotion to Christ really pertain to everything we do, not just our giving of money.
When we love God so much that everything we do is measured by whether or not it pleases God we will be blessed. However, the blessing is greater than material possessions, in fact, most of the time it's the Spiritual blessing of wisdom and the lack of guilt that blesses us the most.
There is nothing more wonderful than walking in joy even in the hardest of times. We are able to do this when we make Christ our first priority over everything and everyone.
In these last days, we will lose a lot, mostly friends and family who don't want to walk with God as we do. They will reject and spurn us because we are too fanatical and embarrassing with all our "God talk" and our resistance in doing the rituals and the observances that everyone else is doing. Christians will even be rejected by their Christian family members for their fervency for the Lord.
Matthew 23:26-28 "…26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside may become clean as well.
27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to be righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.…"
James 1:2-12 "2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position;
10 and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.
11 For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.
12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. "
Romans 5:3-5 "…3 Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.…"

Where are the Lovers of Christ?

Someone help me understand this!
How is it possible for a born again believer to have a Facebook page, be active on it, and never speak one word about Christ?
These are the last days there isn't must time left to spread the gospel or encourage the saints. God has given this amazing opportunity to speak of Him to the entire world from our living rooms and yet so many believers never speak of Him.
This is a big red flag for me.
I do understand that some are not called to use Facebook, they are just not led as I am not led but do other things. However, if someone does have a Facebook page and never speaks about Christ this is evidence that they write about what they love or even worse they are ashamed of Christ.
2 Corinthians 13:4-6 "…4 For He was indeed crucified in weakness, yet He lives by God’s power. And though we are weak in Him, yet by God’s power we will live with Him to serve you. 5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Can’t you see for yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you— unless you actually fail the test? 6 And I hope you will realize that we have not failed the test.…"
Those who do not speak of the Lord on Facebook, often put up political banter being conservatives. How could anyone who loves the Lord be more involved in thinking about politics than they do about the Lord Jesus Christ Who died for them?
Mark 12:30-31 "30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”…"
Doesn't it make sense that we would talk about that which we love more than anything else?
Because there are so many pretenders in the church we see these pew warmers ignoring conversation about Christ while spending much time on the things of this world.
We speak about that which we love, that's how it works.
Malachi 3:16-17 "16 At that time those who feared the LORD spoke with one another, and the LORD listened and heard them. So a scroll of remembrance was written before Him regarding those who feared the LORD and honored His name.17“ They will be Mine,” says the LORD of Hosts, “on the day when I prepare My treasured possession. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.…"
Anyone who calls themselves Christian and would be angry at this post is proving what I am saying. Born again believers do not become angry at a correction or chastisement, they pray about it to see if it is true and then make adjustments in their lives.
Anger at truth is a sure sign there is an angry spirit of rebellion within those who respond in angst.
Hebrews 4:12
"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."
2 Timothy 4:7
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
Fighting the good fight of faith and finishing the race having obeyed God is not for "preachers" only, it is for every born again believer, every single one ought to be doing something in obedience to the Lord in these last days.
I remember a few gatherings I have been involved with over the years that had coffee time before the service. In these gatherings, all that was spoken of was the ball games or politics. Almost nothing was said having to do with Jesus Christ.
The ritual of attending a gathering, singing some songs, and listening to a short sermon seems a lot to me like the Catholic churches I attended before I was born again.
The people went to "fulfill their obligation" but never spoke of the Lord outside that mass. The same things happen in the evangelical churches. They have the songs, the prayer for problems in the group, and a short sermon. But sadly there was no talk of Christ outside the rituals and the sermon.
Finally; What we love we speak about often!
Just saying!