Standing FIRM Amid RISING DARKNESS | Guest: Robert Jeffress

May Your Lampstand not be Removed

Nothing is too hard for us when we know Christ Who lives in us has a purpose for everything directing our path and redirecting our path when we stray to follow our own will.

We are not looking for Christ to do our will but for Him to tell us His will for us.

Ephesians 1:11

"11 In Him we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE of Him who works all things in accordance with the plan of His will,"

As born-again believers, we are chosen for the work He has ordained for us to do after we have trusted Christ and He has changed us into a new creation.

1 John 5:14-15

"14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him."

The Holy Spirit leads us into all truth as we seek Him and He will direct our path as long as our will is according to His.

God will not hear the prayers that are not His will, He will ignore us until we seek His face for His will.

James 4:2-4 "…2 You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures. 4 You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.…"

There are those who would deceive others into believing they can demand things from God and expect the mere proclamation that you have it is enough to motivate God to do our will. These people are of the devil and focus continually on worldly desires and the pleasures of this life. I fear for those who live like this, they cannot expect to have a relationship with Christ on our own terms.

Psalm 66:18

If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

Those who teach such false teachings will be provided with what they want through the work of the devil but will find themselves in hell if they will not repent and trust Christ.

Romans 8:28

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

If someone seeks their own will and purpose they cannot expect to hear from God although they may hear from the devil to make the willful one believe they have been blessed when what they received from the devil will destroy their relationship with God and others.

2 Corinthians 11:14 "

No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light."

The devil can make a person feel ecstatic with happiness for a time until he unleashes the real purpose of the devil to ruin them. He will make what you have received from him look like it was from God but it will bring disaster in their souls of spiritual deadness.

We must always seek the WILL of Christ, not our own and we must confess when we have sought our own desires that differ from the purposes of God.

Revelation 2:3-5 "…3 Without growing weary, you have persevered and endured many things for the sake of My name. 4 But I have this against you: You have abandoned your first love. 5 Therefore, keep in mind how far you have fallen. Repent and perform the deeds you did at first. But if you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

We Don't Notice the Smell Until We Leave and Come Back

After being, for the most part, no contact with narcissists for years now it is even more clear on the rare occasions that I have seen them that things were ungodly even though some claim to be Christians.

While we are in the mess we are too confused and agitated to be able to see the attitudes for what they are, but when we are gone a while and come back it is blatant.

It's sort of like a smoker who smokes in their house or people with dogs who don't clean their house and don't seem to notice the smell until they go on vacation. When they come back to the smell that was absent on vacation, they suddenly notice how bad the smell is. Sometimes it takes time away from the mess to be able to see there is a mess.

Once we have removed ourselves from the ungodly attitudes and covert actions of narcissists we can begin to see just how wicked they were, worse than we originally thought.

When we are in the fog we can't see the fog but if we go on a nearby hill looking down on the valley, then we can see how very thick the fog really is. If we go back down the hill standing in the fog again we will not see it so clearly. We have to look far into the distance to see the fog.

In narcissistic family systems, we question our own perceptions until we remove ourselves for a time to allow ourselves to focus on Christ and those who love Christ, then the difference between the narcissists and the godly will be so stark we can never be fooled again.

Narcissists (2 Timothy 3 types) want us to believe we deserve their angst and ruthlessness, they are influenced by the devil and motivated by their false beliefs about us. Only God can open their eyes, their targets can never explain enough to influence them, they love their anger toward us and will not change unless Christ changes their heart because of their repentance.

Every born-again believer is a target for those who hate Christ and love themselves.

John 15:18-25

Disciples’ Relation to the World

18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.

19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.

20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they followed My word, they will follow yours also.

21 But all these things they will do to you on account of My name, because they do not know the One who sent Me.

22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

23 The one who hates Me hates My Father also.

24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.

25 But this has happened so that the word that is written in their Law will be fulfilled: ‘They hated Me for no reason.’"

They hated Christ for no reason, and they will hate us for no reason too.

the Ball Brothers - It's About the Cross (OFFICIAL video)

It's About the Cross!!!!!!!

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And even greater than all these blessings is the blessing of wisdom that can only come from God. Blessing of wisdom that we can have even if all the things of the world are taken from us. We can never lose that wisdom.

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