Are You Ready?

The Irrational "Common" Sense

The "common" sense in our day is an "irrational" sense based on feelings. Facts no longer matter.

The Fool Loves to Hate and He Loves to Make You Angry

Untrustworthy insecure people take every passing comment no matter how innocent as a personal insult or slight. Ignore their response to innocent comments and move on, they have no interest in resolving anything or seeing the love in those they wish to diminish.

Our world is full now of these people who love to hate, who love to show contempt when it is not warranted. Because there is contempt in their heart they must dump it on someone and it will always be those who love God.

Because they hate God even when they say they are Christian they will see everything in terms of their hatred of Him. Remember it's not personal to you, it directed at God who lives in you. Let God do your fighting for you, He is better at defending us than we are of defending ourselves because He knows the heart of the one He is dealing with, we can only know their heart in so much as we see their actions.

May the Lord guide you in all your responses and non-responses, keeping you innocent no matter what is thrown at you.

Proverbs 15:1-2 Contrast of the Upright and the Wicked

"15 A gentle answer turns away wrath,

But a harsh word stirs up anger.

2 The tongue of the wise makes knowledge pleasant,

But the mouth of fools spouts foolishness."

Proverbs 26:4-5

"4 Do not answer a fool according to his foolishness,

Or you will also be like him.

5 Answer a fool as his foolishness deserves,

So that he will not be wise in his own eyes."

A fool will count himself as having won against you if he can make you angry do not oblige him.

Do Not Supply the Narcississts!

Why do I warn you about the tactics and reactions of the narcissists? Simple they are growing in numbers, we need not be intimidated by them.

The more we reach the end of the church age the more we will see people acting irrationally, without good sense and without empathy or kindness toward others.

If we know what we are seeing we need not be intimidated or goated into responding in anger. Remaining calm and unreactive is the best way to handle those who attempt to provoke us.

Narcissists hate those who are loving and calm, it is their goal to cause us to act badly through prodding and polking so they can feel justified in how terrible they act.

We have the power of Christ in us, we need not be left to the power of our feelings. We can render our feelings inert simply by ignoring them. Over time we will not even have the frustration of feelings dogging us because we have learned the cause and purpose of the narcissist.

James 1:2-8 "2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. "

Do not give the narcissist what they need....that is narcissistic supply through our fallen emotions.

Truth is Mocked and Demeaned in our Day, Let it Make You Stronger

Untrustworthy insecure people take every passing comment no matter how innocent as a personal insult or slight. Why? Because they are in sin and feel the need to demean and negate anyone who speaks the truth to them. They want to be superior, the only way to

Do not be intimidated by mocking, silence to demean or irrational responses to the truth we tell. We are living in a culture that does not receive the things of the Lord, even in our own church gatherings.

Most gatherings defend divorce and remarriage, they negate the Bible when it does not fit with their own agenda or desired belief system and they accept and endorse the false one-man pastor system.

Most Christians do not know the Bible as well as they claim. They have bought into many ungodly practices that have ruined the church gatherings. They endorse and defend pagan holidays, the attempted dissolution of families through divorce and compound this by remarriage.

Luke 16:18
18 “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery."

Marriage is a picture of salvation, when Christ makes us into a new creation we are completely changed never to be the old creation again. When we marry someone we are one with them until one spouse dies.

2 Corinthians 5:16-18 "16 Therefore from now on we recognize no one by the flesh; even though we have known Christ by the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,"

When Christ makes two people one in marriage it is His work, it cannot be undone by man.

Mark 10:8-10 ""8 and the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate. 10 And in the house the disciples again began questioning Him about this."

When God makes something new or joins them together no one can undo what He did it is a spiritual matter. This is why God said if there is remarriage after divorce it is ongoing and perpetual adultery. The first marriage was the one God created any marriage after divorce remains adultery.

Ephesians 2:10
"10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

We do not make ourselves one in marriage when we take our vows. We do not make ourselves a new creation when we desire to be born again. We express our desire and God does all the rest of the work.

The reason we see so many people taking lightly the words of God in Scripture is that they see themselves as the one who does the work in themselves. When we express to God our desire to be cleansed and are made whole, it is He who does that in us. When we vow to be one with the person we marry it is God who makes us one. The reason we see these things being treated with contempt in our day is that too many people are attempting to make themselves what only God can make, the changes in us are spiritual and cannot be done in the flesh. These principles are not just for believers, they apply to non-believers too. 

The reason non-believers are in sin and on their way to hell is that they have not trusted in Christ for salvation nor do they have a desire to be changed by Him.

Everything that is sin for the believer is also a sin for the unbeliever, this is why the unsaved need to repent and be born again through the power of Christ.

Those who desire to remain in control of their own destiny without the work of Christ cannot be born again nor can they dissolve the marriage bond that God performed at the vow.

In our day of rebellion in the church, we will experience much rejection and mocking for speaking what God said. There are many pretenders in the church today walking in a cultural Christianity in which they make their own decisions, pick and choose which things in the Bible to believe as well as twist what God said to make it acceptable to their own cultural belief system.

Galatians 1:10
"For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ."

Mark 7:13
"13 thereby invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down, and you do many things such as that."

Mark 7:8 "8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

I dare say that most of the traditions that modern Christians hold to are not Biblical and have done much harm to the gospel through their rebellion. They bring a false gospel to the people through their false teaching on divorce and remarriage and other doctrines that nullify the Word of God.

If we want to honor and obey Christ we must dig deeply into His word while praying for the understanding.

Proverbs 2:3-5 3 For if you cry out for insight, And raise your voice for understanding; 4 If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; 5 Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And discover the knowledge of God."

Acts 17:11 11 Now these people (the Bereans) were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

Most Christians today are not questioning their traditions to see if they are Biblical. They fail to see that Christ is the WORD, He is the very essence of His Word, therefore everything He says is gold and perfect. Our translations fall short but the Holy Spirit in each of us can give us the truth but only if we want it. Those who refuse to question what they were taught will remain in ignorance, continuing to spread a false gospel of "whatever you want to believe" when it comes to God's Word.

Those who refuse to ask God for truth, choosing their traditions over Him, are often not born again. Some may be born again, but hold onto their false beliefs but know this, they will be held accountable one day for bringing false doctrine to others.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 "3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, 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 people as these."

Sadly this passage in Timothy is a picture of the end times mentality within the apostate church. These people will no longer hold onto the truth, they prefer their lifestyles of sin and their sinful friends more than they love Christ.

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."

Do not let what you see discourage you. Lean into the truth all the time and learn to become stronger with each personal attack. There will be attacks against you within the church. The larger church system for the most part today is apostate, it will buck against truth as well as anyone who tells it.

We Will Not Be Silenced – Dr. Erwin Lutzer and Chad Thomas

More is Caught Than Taught!

Many people now have set the wrong standard for their children by their own example, who are becoming grandparents today. They shake their heads and wonder why their children are speaking so disrespectfully to them, very likely they taught their children how to be disrespectful by the way they treated others. Children learn more by example than they do by words. There is a saying; "more is caught than taught."

When we set a wrong standard with our children because we are too lazy to teach them the right way, we cannot expect them to be better than the way we acted.

There are those who have attempted to raise their children with manners and standards but were thwarted at every turn by spouses or extended family and more disturbing the school systems that taught their children to trust the teachers over their own parent.

When a parent uses psychology as their standard they will be using man's standard over God's, causing rebellion and selfishness in the hearts of their children. Self-esteem has been fostered in the children all their lives for the past 50 years.

If anyone is wondering why this culture is so weak and self-absorbed it is because of the self-esteem teaching. When a child is completely self-absorbed they have no room in their heart for anyone but themselves. Even if they do a good deed for someone else they must be praised for it, given a trophy, and called a hero.

There was a day when we knew the right thing to do in helping someone else with something never expecting to be praised or rewarded for that act. The sense that we did the right thing was enough, there was no need for accolades from others.

Matthew 6:1-2 "1“Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.…"

In giving out accolades like party favors we have created monsters who will not do a good deed unless they are praised for it. In fact the "entitlement" mentality drives our culture in which every good deed must have its immediate reward or there is anger in the heart of the one who did that deed.

This mentality of instant reward has permeated our culture so much so that good deeds are rare unless there is an agenda behind them. Even prayer in full church gatherings is to be seen and praised, with the hope that someone will notice and elevate the one who prays.

Matthew 6:5

"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward."

Those with sincere hearts who love God need no human praise for their good deeds, they walk in joy that they are seen by God alone.

Matthew 6:1 "“Take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people, to be noticed by them; otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven."

God does not want our gifts if they are given with the expectation that we will receive something back. If you love God and others you will not expect repayment nor will we tell anyone else what we are doing. God will reward us later, but that ought never to be the reason we give. We give because we want to glorify God in obedience to Him.

Matthew 23:4-6 "…4 They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5 All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. 6 They love the places of honor at banquets, the chief seats in the synagogues,…"

One of the traits of those who wish to dominate others is to give to show off and judge others for what they are doing. If the others do not measure up to their idea of giving then they will be treated with contempt, disrespectfully.

Sadly the one who lays down the human standard and judges others is often not seeing what the others are doing because they do not parade their deeds. These others quietly and humbly obey God without fanfare, and yet the one who judges feels superior for something he/she knows nothing about.

We are to judge the sin we see and care enough to lovingly go to a person to restore them. However, God clearly told us not to judge what we cannot see. Often the wrong judgments have more to do with the contemptuous person desiring to believe something about someone and pretending it is true without clear evidence or knowledge.

Let us not dream up our own ways and cast them on others as though they are from God. Let us look deeply into the Word of God and speak what He says.

Deuteronomy 11:18

"Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads."

Allow no one to place human restrictions upon you or judge you according to their own ideas. Let God's Word be your judge.

Like

Comment

Share

In-Laws Should not be Outlaws in our Hearts

There is a very important principle that young folks do not understand today. This principle has to do with the "in-law" relationship when we get married to someone.

When we marry a spouse we no longer have one set of parents, we now have two. It is clear from the traditions of the Bible that we adopt into our hearts our spouse's parents, as though they are ours too.

When my husband and I got married we began calling one another's parents "Mom and Dad" just as if they were ours.

We did this because we had become one as a married couple and everyone who was important to our spouse was important to us. We loved our in-law parents the same way we loved our own parents.

We are seeing more and more, sadly, many married couples who drop their own parents in favor of their spouse's parents because the spouse will not place the same importance on their in-laws as they do on their own families of origin.

When we love someone we value whatever they value. When we love someone it matters that we enter into their lives just as they enter into our lives. When we marry our families of origin are not erased in order for us to have a marriage. Yes, we leave and cleve as the Bible says, yes we now make our own decisions as a couple but this does not mean that we do not value the advice of parents or that we no longer have anything to do with them.

While it is true that the extended family no longer has authority over us, this does not mean that they are expunged as though they no longer exist.

The mandate by God to honor our parents after we marry remains but also includes the parents of our spouses.

Exodus 20:12 " 12 Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you."

1 Peter 3:7

"Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered."

Ephesians 5:33

"However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband."

There is an honor for the wife, respect for the husband, and honor for one another's parents when we treat the extended parents the same way we would treat the parents we were born to, the ones who raised us.

After all, thinking in human rational terms it makes sense to honor the parents of our spouse, these are the people who raised and loved the one we married and love.

How would it be possible to claim we love our spouse while rejecting the people he loved all his life before he met us.

My husband and I were raised in very different environments, we didn't see them as a challenge to us personally as so many weak-minded young people do today. Since in our day differences are seen as a threat rather than something to enjoy and learn from, we have many young people treating their in-law parents as though they were not worthy of honor and respect.

As we move more into this apostate age of narcissism we are seeing the dishonor and disrespect grow exponentially. Young people do not respect their own parents let alone the parents of their spouse.

Since there is little respect for a spouse in our day it makes sense there would be no respect for the parents of the spouse.

Honor and respect mean we value those for whom we show these qualities. Honor and respect does not mean we agree with everything or even approve of every lifestyle, however, it means that we treat well those who we have adopted as our own no matter how they act.

There were times when I disagreed with my mother-in-law but I listened, didn't argue and even praised her at times for the things I did agree with, after all, I loved her son, she bore him, she cared for him and now he is mine to enjoy. She was not perfect, as none of us are, but she was worthy of honor regardless of our differences.

My husband treated my mother the same way, he never at any time said anything rude, raised his voice or even argued with her, neither did he do that with my father no matter what they said or did.

You see, it is not our place as adult children to evaluate our parents, instruct them or demean them for their habits, it is ONLY our place to love them, care for them when needed, and speak gently and calmly to them. It does not mean we have to remain silent all the time but when we speak we must speak in respectful tones giving defference to them.

Does all this sound unfamiliar in our day? It is unfamiliar because the standards of the Bible and God's Word have been rejected as the authority in the lives of many who call themselves Christian.

Many Christian adult children think they are honoring their parents by doing a few things for them. This is not honor. Honor is the attitude of respect given, valuing them as priceless, merely by the position the parents hold as the ones who sacrificed their lives for their children when they were being raised.

Here's the rub, even if you have a parent who is an alcoholic, a rude person, a liar, a thief, you do not have to endorse what they do but you must treat them with love in their presence. Mocking, demeaning, and withholding love is monstrous.

We can even speak through an attitude of love toward our parents the truth, but never from the position of superiority or pride.

When we love someone we weep over their flaws, we do not beat them down as far as we can to show them how superior we are, that too is monstrous.

Young people today often judge their parents for things they know nothing about. They see one thing they think they don't like and assume the parents are evil. Children often misinterpret things that happen between their parents because they do not have all the facts.

If the parents continue to have bad habits into the child's adult life we can say they might know what is going on, however, if they are basing their opinion about their parents on things they thought they saw as a child, this cannot be trusted since there is no possible way they can know the facts.

I have also seen many in-law adult children turn the spouse against their own parents out of jealousy, they cannot tolerate that their spouse loves someone other than them. They do not understand that we can love many people in our lives, but these selfish spouses want to be the only people in their spouse's life.

It is a sin to judge the parent's marriage, to insert themselves into the marriage to try to fix it and even worse if they reject one parent over another through false judging without all the facts.

Here's is the thing; Nowhere in scripture does God tell us it's alright to be disrespectful, dismissive, and rude if the parents do not measure up to the child's expectations, nor does it say to instruct a parent about their marriage. The job of the child is to love the parents and care for them in their old age, they are not told to instruct or rebuke their parents.

1 Timothy 5:1-2 "1 Do not rebuke an older man but appeal to him as to a father. Treat younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.…"

In every instance, with all people, we are to treat others with respect but especially those who are older than us. It is arrogance and evil to chastise an older person with angst in one's voice or with the intent to appear superior.

In our day in which children are taught, they are equal to the authorities over them, they think they have a right to talk back and demean their elders. We are seeing more disrespect and disregard for elders than we have ever seen before. Many in our day think this is normal, but it is not normal in God's economy and is in fact demonic.

1 Peter 3:7

"Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered."

This instruction for husbands to love and honor their wives can and does also apply to the elderly. The elderly are frail, alone, and possibly struggling, they are to be seen as valued vessels to care for delicately.

Having said all this I must say that there are situations in which the parents or in-law parents are destructive to your family and must be avoided. We must make our own family priority over the desires of the parents or in-law parents.

In-laws may influence your children against God and against you, in these cases, the parents or in-law parents who will not support you in raising your children to love the Lord through actively undermining your authority over your children must be avoided. However, if we must avoid them most of the time we must also be kind, respectful, and helpful when we are in their presence. After all, our Christian witness is at stake, all we do must reflect the love of Christ.

There is no place for jealousy, angst, superiority, or demeaning in the heart of a born-again believer no matter what anyone else is doing.

Galatians 5:22

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,"

The fruit of the Spirit of Christ must always be working in us, not of our own efforts but His work in us.

Matthew 7:15-20 "16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them."

Others will see Christ in us when He is the One working in us. If we find ourselves having to try real hard to have these character qualities then we are lacking them and must pray that God put them there for us. When we have them they come naturally without effort. We don't have to think to breathe or eat, neither should we have to work up the character of Christ when He does it in us.

Pray to be like Christ, pray that He gives us what we should have that we would not be working in our own effort to concoct our own idea of goodness. When we have His character qualities, they will be full of Him.

Like

Comment

Share