Often dreams come out of our own experiences, desires or fears. They reflect more what's in our own mind than anything God is telling us.
If a dream is from the Lord it will be a "thus saith the Lord", not a cryptic message that has to be figured out or calculated.
There is no need for dreams and visions as there in the OT because we live by faith and our faith is built on what God already told us in His word.
Also, let's remember that God said He can do no miracles in a place where there is no faith. We are living in the end times when it is rare to find faith upon the earth.
Luke 18:8-10
"8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:"
If there is no faith there are no miracles. Our faith today is based on the Word of God the Bible. We have no need of details for the future. God will tell us what to do when we need to do it and we won't even know why we are doing it but our faith tells us that God has a reason so we just obey without knowing why.
2 Corinthians 5:7-10
7 for we walk by faith, not by sight,
8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad."
Trust Christ rather than looking for signs!!
Matthew 16:4 "4 A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Then He left them and went away."
Those who are constantly looking for signs lack faith, they must see something to believe God is working.
Those who hear from the Holy Spirit do not worry about tomorrow because they know the Holy Spirit in them will give them instructions one step at a time. We don't have to know the next step we just have to do what He told us to do.
When you are holding a flashlight at your feet in the dark you can only see one step at a time to take the next step, take that step and wait for God to light another step.
Psalm 119:105…104 "I gain understanding from Your precepts; therefore I hate every false way. 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. 106 I have sworn and confirmed that I will keep Your righteous judgments.…"
Proverbs 6:23
"23 For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light;
And reproofs for discipline are the way of life"
As we take our steps one at a time we will experience discipline. It is human nature to stray from the path because of our passions, desires, and emotions. God brings discipline to take us back to the path again. Consider the discipline as a blessing from God.
Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises everyone He receives as a son.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"
Saturday, May 23, 2020
Fawning Doesn't Become You
If you are "fawning" over someone you are committing the sin of idolatry.
Fawn: "to flatter someone or attend to someone excessively; to curry favor with someone." The Free Dictionary
There is only One Who we should see in this way of worship that is God and His Son Jesus Christ.
We love people and we even sacrifice for them from time to time but we ought never to fawn over anyone.
I see this on Facebook all the time, excessive praise for a celebrity or famous person merely because he/she was famous. It is impossible to know the lives of a famous person unless we had lived with them. No one is perfect and no one deserves worship except our God.
When we fawn over someone we are ignoring their flaws often even denying their flaws to pretend they are worthy of worship. When someone becomes angry at another person for exposing the flaws to stop the fawning, then we know there is worship of that individual going on.
Proverbs 8:13
"The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate."
We ought to be able to look at the good and bad side of anyone without having a meltdown. Those who become angry do that because they cannot love someone who has flaws, they must elevate excessively others they like in order to love them.
There is such a thing as authentic love that is seen when we love someone even if they are not perfect. To think we can only love those who are perfect is to believe we are perfect.
Narcissists do this all the time, they cannot love imperfect people, those with flaws. The implication is that the one who cannot love other imperfect people actually believe they are perfect and can only treat with respect others who are perfect just like them. The narcissist thinks they are elevating themselves by associating with special people.
The reason we see so much covert rudeness coming from the narcissist is because of this dynamic of self-worship in them. They only allow those they consider to be special in their lives. They never associate with anyone they perceive to be beneath them. And, especially never associate with anyone who shines the light on their flaws.
Those who are secure in their faith knowing that only Christ is perfect are the most confident and joyful people on the planet. They have no need to be superior to anyone else, they are comfortable in their own skin.
When we know only Christ is perfect and we are deeply flawed in need of a Savior we have no reason to show a phony persona of perfection. Being ones self with all our faults and warts is the freest place for any born again believer. It is burdensome to have to put out a pretend self.
Matthew 11:28-30
28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Brothers and Sisters throw off the need to impress anyone and walk with Christ, you will see or do see if you do this, that the Christian life is joyful every single day.
Even when others revile us we do not melt down we remain full of Christ's confidence and joy.
James 1:2-8
"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."
You will not be able to understand the great peace and joy that comes with trusting Christ until you do it. Some reading this will know it well.
Fawn: "to flatter someone or attend to someone excessively; to curry favor with someone." The Free Dictionary
There is only One Who we should see in this way of worship that is God and His Son Jesus Christ.
We love people and we even sacrifice for them from time to time but we ought never to fawn over anyone.
I see this on Facebook all the time, excessive praise for a celebrity or famous person merely because he/she was famous. It is impossible to know the lives of a famous person unless we had lived with them. No one is perfect and no one deserves worship except our God.
When we fawn over someone we are ignoring their flaws often even denying their flaws to pretend they are worthy of worship. When someone becomes angry at another person for exposing the flaws to stop the fawning, then we know there is worship of that individual going on.
Proverbs 8:13
"The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate."
We ought to be able to look at the good and bad side of anyone without having a meltdown. Those who become angry do that because they cannot love someone who has flaws, they must elevate excessively others they like in order to love them.
There is such a thing as authentic love that is seen when we love someone even if they are not perfect. To think we can only love those who are perfect is to believe we are perfect.
Narcissists do this all the time, they cannot love imperfect people, those with flaws. The implication is that the one who cannot love other imperfect people actually believe they are perfect and can only treat with respect others who are perfect just like them. The narcissist thinks they are elevating themselves by associating with special people.
The reason we see so much covert rudeness coming from the narcissist is because of this dynamic of self-worship in them. They only allow those they consider to be special in their lives. They never associate with anyone they perceive to be beneath them. And, especially never associate with anyone who shines the light on their flaws.
Those who are secure in their faith knowing that only Christ is perfect are the most confident and joyful people on the planet. They have no need to be superior to anyone else, they are comfortable in their own skin.
When we know only Christ is perfect and we are deeply flawed in need of a Savior we have no reason to show a phony persona of perfection. Being ones self with all our faults and warts is the freest place for any born again believer. It is burdensome to have to put out a pretend self.
Matthew 11:28-30
28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Brothers and Sisters throw off the need to impress anyone and walk with Christ, you will see or do see if you do this, that the Christian life is joyful every single day.
Even when others revile us we do not melt down we remain full of Christ's confidence and joy.
James 1:2-8
"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."
You will not be able to understand the great peace and joy that comes with trusting Christ until you do it. Some reading this will know it well.
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