Saints, Ignore the feelings in favor of doing what is right. Feelings deceive us, they say things are bad when they are good and things are good when they are bad.
Feelings often deceive us into thinking things are impossible when they are not. Feelings are there, we admit them but we should not base our responses on them.
Feelings foster "reactions" rather than rational responses.
Rational thinking does not deny feelings it just evaluates them according to the truth of God's Word.
Proverbs 29:11 "11 A fool always loses his temper, But a wise man holds it back."
Venting our feelings is very often the means through which relationships are destroyed. We ought to be more deeply concerned about the well being of our brother or sister than we are about how we felt about something.
It is easy to "feel" offended when we are corrected, rather than reacting in anger because we were corrected we ought to be invested in relationship building through truth.
Our culture is over the top in ultra-sensitiveness, relationships are imploding and for little to no reason.
Proverbs 27:17 "17 As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."
Proverbs 27:6 "6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses."
John 15:12 "12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you."
We are to love one another as Christ loved us. The problem is that our world doesn't understand how Christ loved. First He gave His life for us, then He instructs, corrects and redirects us, because we forget to consult with Him. We are prone to go our own way and think we know when we don't know.
The life of the believer is fraught with continual lessons, corrections and re-directions, it is the only way we can progress in wisdom and holiness. We have no need of praise, that only serves to cause us to think we have no need of training by God or His servants. The more we use flattery and praise the more we help to raise the level of pride.
Encouragement is not the same as praise. Encouragement says, "go this way not that way." Praise says, "no need to change anything you are doing just fine as you are."
Encouragement is what comes from a coach to make you stronger. Praise and flattery is what comes from those who do not care about your progress.
Proverbs 29:5-6 " 5 A man who flatters his neighbor Is spreading a net for his steps. 6 By transgression an evil man is ensnared, But the righteous sings and rejoices.…"
The goal of satan is "diabolical" meaning of the devil, he loves to use covert tactics to cause confusion and trouble within the church.
Sadly the violations of God's word are because most people who attend the gatherings these days are apostate, they were never born again. They will jump on every band wagon that allows them the freedom to sin without guilt. They love anything that elevates them, flatters them and allows them freedom from guilt. They will make up rules for people that are not from the Word, in order to feel spiritual. Just as the Pharisees added to God's Word to draw attention away from the principles of God that they were violating.
It is the devil who devised the lie that remarriage after divorce is a legitimate marriage. Christ said it was adultery, a continuing state of adultery, so the devil lies against Christ and says "did God really say this, I am sure he didn't mean that." Why else would God say not to remarry after divorce if the adultery was not ongoing? We know there is a spiritual connection between a spouse of the first covenant that is never dissolved until death, that's why there is continual unsettledness in the hearts of those who remain in adulterous marriages. They often must adamantly defend their own choices, because they must convince others to feel free from guilt. They will deny there is any sense of guilt and fight to prove it.
People are confused about the "exception clause" which is not an exception at all, but a lack of understanding of the Word, only because they are not asking God. These people are choosing to believe the lies of the modern preachers, rather than the Holy Spirit. It's very simple, don't argue here about this, just go and ask God.
Merely one generation ago, everyone in the churches agreed on divorce and remarriage. It has only been in the past 50 years when the seminaries began teaching psychology that they have sought ways to negate God's Word to be able to fit in with the world.
The devil has managed to cause many to believe in the "prosperity gospel", accusing the brethren of lacking faith because they are not wealthy and healthy. This too is a lie from the devil, God said the opposite, He made it clear that we would be rejected, live in poverty often and have health problems, because we follow Him. The devil is continually accusing the brethren of doing wrong when they are doing right. He accuses those who have great faith with having little faith, in order to discourage them.
Satan wants to remove all the trials in order to make us fat and happy with our lives. When we are getting everything we want in this life we are more likely to trust in that lifestyle, than in Christ.
The covert tactics of the devil are to offer us the kingdoms as he did Christ on the mountain. Christ rejected his offer in favor of continuing with the Father's plan for Him to die for the sins of others. Our Lord had no wealth, His mission was far greater than worldly prosperity.
Satan covertly appeals to the senses, the worldly desires of the heart to entice us into physical and emotional comfort rather than spiritual reflection. The last thing the devil wants is for us to sense a need for Christ. He wants us to be completely self absorbed, self righteous and self sufficient. Then we will place ourselves as the god of our life instead of Christ.
The devil is the author of the prosperity gospel, he has twisted the Word of God to say what it does not say, to cause us to doubt what God said. He is also the author of the modern belief system of the acceptance of divorce and remarriage.
The families of Christians today are far more unstable and lacking joy in these last days, because of the mess they have in their broken marriages and blended families.
It is a lie that the remarriages are "blended families", many people in these situations will not admit they have a mess going on because of their selfish choices to split families. They lie to others about how well they are doing, when inside they are spiritually dead as their witness for Christ has been demolished.
The last challenge I have for anyone is to go to God, ask Him about these things, truly ready to reject the lies of the devil and be rejected by those around them to stand for truth.
"Diablo" means devil, "Diabolical" means 'of the devil'.
When something is "diabolical" it is often a covert (subtle and hidden) assault against the truth. Sometimes is it overt (open and blatant), but the favored tactic of the devil is to cloak his evil lies in a measure of truth to deceive the simple minded, or the non-thinkers, of which the organized church is full of in our time.
In the garden, Even was lied to by the devil through making her doubt what God really said. Adam knew what God said but chose to place his wife above God in doing as she asked without attempting to convince her not to do it.
Many people are negating God's word through causing people to doubt what God really said in favor of changing and twisting what He said to make it fit their own ideas and desires.
Eve believed the lies of the devil and was deceived, but Adam believed God and disobeyed anyway. Eve believed a lie and Adam made a choice to follow his desire rather than God, knowing full well what he was doing. Eve nor Adam had an excuse, if there was any doubt about what should happen, they should have gone to God to ask Him, after all, they walked with Him in the garden, they knew they could go to Him, but they chose to trust in their own desires.
In our modern church many are choosing to believe the lies not because they really believe them but because the lies fit into their own desires. Denying truth does not make their understanding right, it is a ways of denying God, He is the One Who has truth, to deny what belongs to Him is to deny Him.
Mankind makes themselves the god in their own mind, when they deny what God said, while refusing to go to Him to enlighten His truth. God will not give truth to those who refuse to ask, because they love their own desires. There have been many times when I challenged someone to "go ask God", only to be met with more hostility and the refusal to do so.
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.…"
We know they have not just been deceived because when they are confronted they rage. A reasonable person who wants to know truth does not rage when their challenged, they look at the evidence and consider what is being said without anger.
The rage of the undiscerning is the indicator that they have themselves on the throne of their life instead of God, preferring their lies to the truth because it fits with their desires.
Many of these deniers have a lot of Bible knowledge but they lack wisdom. Everything they believe is based on their own interpretation based on their own desires.
2 Peter 1:20-21
"20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God."
Reasonable people may disagree even after being challenged and seeking truth, but they do not rage, they merely disagree while continuing to treat others with respect in spite of the disagreement.
The rage of the rebellious ones is to intimidate us into anger so they can feel better about rejecting the truth. This rage is the proof of lack of honor and respect for those who hold differing opinions.
There is no sense of tolerance or love in the heart of one who must attack others simply because they have a disagreement. I have heard others on facebook lament the fact that so many discussions on this medium often turn into hate and rage, when there is no reason for it.
Matthew 15:19
"19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander."
Rage and anger, lack of respect and intimidation does not flow from a mind after God's own heart, but rather the devil is in charge of a heart like this.
Let's not let the devil train our hearts, let's let Christ be the One Who speaks through us. The way to do that is to deeply know the principles of the Bible while being controlled by the Holy Spirit. It will not work to have "knowledge", we must allow Christ to control us in everything.
