Have We Obeyed God?

There are those who think that they have stayed staunchly to the Bible, reading daily and seeking God for particular leadings of the Holy Spirit, not realizing they have incorporated into their thinking and actions the worldly philosophy they say they don't believe.

What many of these people do not realize is that they have bought into much of the new age movement end times thinking without realizing it.

Many believers have raised their children on self esteem thinking they were not. Some of the practices of self esteem teaching are "time out", sending a small child to their room to be isolated from the rest of the family, is one of the most common elements used as "discipline." This concept is not found in the Bible, but comes from worldly psychology. There is the philosophy of praise, continually and for everything. There is the attitude that the child should reach for fame and glory in his sports and academics. Then there is the expectation that rewards would come every time there is any form of accomplishment.

God says this;

Proverbs 22:15 "Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of correction will drive it far from him."

Proverbs 13:24 "He who spares his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly."

God mandated that we discipline our children quickly and with the rod, this allows for the child to remain with his family while seeing the sinfulness of his actions.

I am convinced that isolating a child to "think about his action" is sin, causing bitterness and anger in the child. Quick discipline and returning to normal activity show the child love while accepting him, he will see that a spanking comes with disobedience, but that we love them and want them with us.

Self esteem has taught children that they are not loved because of their actions. Christ teaches we are loved in spite of our actions and that our discipline will be to restore us to family relationships.

Other forms of self esteem teaching promotes excessive praising, even for everyday duties. God teaches us to do our duty even if there is no praise for it.

Romans 12:1 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service."

Luke 17:10 "So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do."

Often these days we praise children to such an extent, that they think they must be praised and thanked for every action, even the slightest responsibility carried out, deserves praise. We thank them for obeying us, we thank them for taking a cup to the kitchen, making them think that they are special every time they merely do what is expected of a humble reasonable person.

I do think there are times to thank a child, but our culture has done this ad nauseam. Parents as saying things like "please Johnny will you do as I say", leaving a child thinking that his parents have to beg him to get things out of him. When the child is in control then the parent has to beg. When the parent is in control the child must obey at the simple command to do so.

When we are parents, we teach the children by our expectations, we teach them how we should respond to God. The modern child has learned from the modern parenting, that he has the option to obey or not, that he should be rewarded for every single thing he does and that if God will say please nicely, then we will obey.

What a disgusting picture of our view of God. He is one to be feared and revered, never at any time did God treat us as though we had as much value as He does, quite the opposite. Equality with parents has taught children to feel equal to God, therefore His is only to be acknowledged when He gives us what we want.

God does not beg us to obey Him, He merely gives us the command and expects obedience. With every command often are given the consequences if we do not obey.

An example: "Johnny it is your turn to clean up the kitchen, I want you to start now." If Johnny argues then he is disciplined and the command is repeated.

Never say to a child who has obeyed, "thank you for obeying." This places the child in a position of authority and gives him the option to resist obeying in the future.

The child in our day, is also being trained that he should be thanked for doing what is normal human responsibility. We carry out many daily activities that we do not get thanked for, the reward of our actions comes with knowing we pleased God.

Perhaps a better way to treat obedience in a child is to express that we are pleased that they obeyed God in obeying us. Teaching a child that obedience to God and parents is its own reward, the relationship is enhanced and there is accomplishment when everyone does what is their duty. Then the matter becomes about obedience rather than a task.

We need to be diligent about our tasks and do things with an attitude of excellence, however that even pales compared to the attitude of obedience. An obedient attitude is far more important than the accomplishment of the task.

Self esteem techniques of today foster arrogance in the children. They think they deserve things instead of being grateful for them.

We can be grateful for finishing a task, and the praise will not be very important.

Proverbs 29:21 "Pamper a slave from childhood, and later he will be ungrateful."

The modern child is indulged in every sort of fun and play, so much so, that they have become ungrateful. If we want our children to be grateful, we do not train them to love personal enjoyment or think of themselves as special.

Proverbs 12:9 "He that despises himself and becomes a slave is better than he that honours himself and lacks bread."

Proverbs 15:33 "The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility."

It is not love to follow the tenets of the self esteem movement, but rather hate, carefully and slyly executed by satan. He has fooled many people into following principles that sounded....OH sooooooo good! but in fact are have devastated our culture and ruined the testimony of the church.

God showed us what the self esteem teaching would produce in 2 Timothy 3:2-5, here is what it looks like;

"But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!"

God's Truth or The Culture

So many people are steeped in the indoctrination they received in government schools over the past 50 years, that they are no longer able to reason a matter through for themselves.

It is only through Christ that they will be able to think out of the box that was created by their culture.
Our culture has intimidated us into thinking that if we see something in a different way than the masses, then we are worthy of shunning. So we try to assess how others will perceive us and soften our ideas to placate those we wish to impress.

I would rather be right with God and think outside the cultural box then be manipulated and controlled by those who do not love Christ.

Notice the word "culture", also contains the word "cult."

1 Corinthians 2:14-16

"But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?”fn But we have the mind of Christ"

The Triune God!!!

The Triune God

There are those who are claiming that they are believers but deny the three persons of God. In the Word of God it is clear that the One true God, is three persons in one in these scriptures.

Genesis 1:26

"Then God said, "Let.... US.... make man in... OUR... image, according to... OUR....likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."God the Father calls God the Son, God!!!

He is not speaking to Himself, but to His son, Here is what He says to Him.

Hebrews 1:8-12 "But to the Son [He says]: "Your throne, O God, [is] forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness [is] the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;"

"Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions." And: "You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands."

"They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will fold them up, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not fail."

It Won't Be Long Now!

God says that Israel will return to Him one day and before that happens, Israel will once again be declared a nation and it would happen in one day. This happened on May 14, 1948, the gavel came down by the hand of Ben Gurion to declare that Israel was a nation.

Jeremiah chapter 3 tells us that God considers Israel His wife, who is still in adultery, but will return to Him.

During the tribulation all of Israel will find Christ, but only after 2/3 of her is destroyed by her enemies. She will be the one to take the gospel to the world before the great day of wrath, giving those in the tribulation one more chance to trust Christ and become born again.

We may think the tribulation is only about God's wrath, but it is more than that, it is God's declaration of Who He is and a last opportunity for those on the earth to turn to Him.

God orchestrated the return of the nation of Israel on May 14, 1948. Ben Gurion brought down the gavel to declare her a nation as God said would happen.

Isaiah 66:7-8 ""Before she was in labor, she gave birth; Before her pain came, She delivered a male child. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? [Or] shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, She gave birth to her children."

One more piece of prophesy happened on that day and each day we see more pieces of the puzzle being added to fulfill what God said would take place.

Things are moving very quickly now, the one world government is forming as the United States moves further and further away from it's roots in an independent nation, fitting in with world domination through the dissolving of the constitution and the diminishing power of each sovereign state.

I will be surprised if we have another election in our country, I think that we have a "dictator" mentality dominating Washington.

Many people are asleep, busying themselves with the trivial cares of this life, not noticing that we are being systematically and methodically overtaken by sin and government.

As believers we should not fight this, it is God's judgment on us and the world, the time is short and we must be about our Father's business, giving the gospel and encouraging the saints in righteousness.

Hebrews 1:8-14 "But to the Son [He says]: "Your throne, O God, [is] forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness [is] the scepter of Your kingdom."

"You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions."

"And: "You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands."

"They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment;"

"Like a cloak You will fold them up, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not fail."

"But to which of the angels has He ever said: "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool"?

"Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?"

Believers Are Not Sinless

The question is not whether a believer can lose something he did not earn and had to be given by God through faith, the question is was a person who has no conscience over sin and uses grace as an excuse to sin, has ever been born again.

God never commanded us to ask forgiveness for sin after we were saved, however He did tell us to confess our sin. We cannot grow in grace if we will not confess that we are a sinner, and we cannot grow away from any particular sin unless we can openly confess we have a problem.

David asked the Lord to forgive him for unknown sin. We cannot be sinless in our bodies. Christ is our righteousness, not us or our good deeds. For the believer with unconfessed sin, he will lose fellowship and rewards in heaven, even suffer consequences in this life, but he does not lose his salvation, or the Holy Spirit.

If someone could lose their salvation over sin then no one would be saved. We all sin, if only in attitude or hidden sins of the heart. Unless anyone can tell me the size of sin, or the number of sins or the duration of sin for which God would remove His Holy Spirit, I stand on the Word that we cannot lose it.

I see no indication in the New Testament that described the leaving of the Holy Spirit from someone who was born again.

I must admonish anyone who thinks they never sin, even the tiniest of sins cannot be in the presence of our Lord, which is why He has imputed our sins to Christ.

How can a mere man, whom God says is desperately wicked do anything that would please God. We cannot, only Christ in us is righteous.

Romans 3:10 "As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one;"

2 Peter 1:1 "Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:"

It has always been God's righteousness that saved a people from themselves. Nothing they could do in obedience means anything if apart from Christ.

Daniel 9:16 ""O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people [are] a reproach to all [those] around us."

When we realize that all our striving to be good is disgusting to God and it is only a faithful servant who can say "it is all you Lord", who will move forward in cleansing.

God will not cleanse the heart of a person who refuses to admit the need for cleansing and from someone who refuses to confess it.

Heart Morality or Hidden Immorality

Today the Lord, once again, has reminded me about the days in which we live. I grieve at the state of the church as a whole. Many believers think they are doing well in their lives because they are against homosexuality and abortion, but are completely accepting of many things that dishonor God on a regular basis.

Ready for the firestorm that is coming after writing this piece... here goes. Because the arrogance of the young people who refuse instruction and even mock the wisdom of the older folks, "heart" immorality is wide spread.

I was in a discussion recently about the undergarments of the teenagers today. Those who like to be in step with the modern culture think that wearing under garments that were only worn by prostitutes a mere 40 years ago, is acceptable because they are unseen.

The question arises, "Why would a young girl care about the style of her under garments if they are unseen?"

God is always looking at the heart, if we want to feel sexy under our cloths it is a heart condition. Why would we want to "feel sexy" as an unmarried person, except that our heart desires things we should not have?

The heart desiring to indulge in promiscuity without actually dong it, is prevalent. God looks at the heart more than the actions. Our hearts are only revealed though actions, but the heart condition is there before the action.

There was a time in our history when women wore long clothing to cover up, even corsets were considered immoral for the believer because the purpose was to show off a figure in public.

Then as the society became a little more bold the dress hems were raised to above the ground to show the ankles. Only those women who were wild and immoral would wear them in the beginning, most of society frowned on them. As the culture began to see more and more of these skirts above the ground exposing the ankle, the older folks became used to the look, rather than evaluating the consequences of this rebellion, they accepted it in the younger generation.

The skirt hems became shorter and shorter over the years until we have what we have now. Any long skirts we find, often have slits all the way up the back or the side exposing far too much.

However, this discussion is not really about the length of a skirt hem, but rather about a heart attitude of rebellion in sexuality.

The sixties and the seventies opened a Pandora's box of immorality that began a firestorm of sexual promiscuity that has infiltrated the church.

Today the modern teen is wearing cloths on the outside and underneath that only prostitutes wore not that long ago. This clothing is fostering rebellion and promiscuity in the heart, even if unseen on the outside.

So often parents, even home school parents are shocked when their daughters get to a certain age, they begin to indulge in bad friends and immoral clothing, even marrying unbelievers in disobedience to the Word, because the parents believed they were teaching all the right things, even holding "family altars." The problem is that the standard of dress has been low in comparison to God's standard, even under the street cloths. And, what is underneath fostered a promiscuous heart.

The seventies was a time when the "hippies" were "telling it all." In an effort to be open and honest the counter-culture of the hippies fostered rebellion against cultural norms disguising it as "openness", when in fact it was merely an in your face declaration to be different for difference sake. Most of what the hippie generation taught was not better, however it was damaging.

Let's take a look at what we have now that is a product of all this focus on fashion and amoral thinking.

We have half if not more of the people in the church divorcing and remarrying and those who have not done it are defending those who do.

We have half the babies born, are out of wedlock immorality. Many people are not bothering with marriage. Because of this children do not have a stable family life, break-ups are common among their parents and those in their sphere of influence are accepting and even helping in the dissolution of relationships and families.

We have 55 million murders in the form of abortion.

We have illegal drugs being sold at our elementary and high schools.

We have teachers who are immoral with their students in public schools.

When we teach our children that what they do on the outside is more important than what they do in secret, we are not addressing the most important issue of all, and that is the condition of the heart.

Parents need to take a strong stand very early with their children as to their clothing, on the outside, and to foster modesty even in the hidden things.

Romans 2:29 "but [he is] a Jew who [is one] inwardly; and circumcision [is that] of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise [is] not from men but from God."

1 Corinthians 10:31 "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

Luke 6:45 ""A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."

Exposing the Health and Wealth Lies

I don't know about any of you but I become weary at the health wealth and prosperity gospel that some are spreading.  There is no scriptural basis for it.  Many have become discouraged thinking they have done something wrong because they don't live in wealth, they are sick often and all their relatives hate them. 

There are those who say they don't believe the false gospel of prosperity, but live as though they must prove God is blessing them through feverish efforts to acquire wealth.  They even deny their illnesses to pretend they are healthy when they need a doctor.

Next time someone attempts to convince you that God does not want you to be poor, sick, or persecuted, repeat these words to them.

Hebrews 11:35 "Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.

Hbr 11:36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.

Hbr 11:37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, [fn] were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented--

Hbr 11:38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, [in] dens and caves of the earth.

Hbr 11:39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise,

Hbr 11:40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from "

Many people are being persecuted, beheaded and hung on crosses today in Egypt, what would you have to say to those people. The health, wealth and prosperity gospel is not the gospel at all, but a false one.

Matthew 6:19 ""Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;"

Mat 6:20       "but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal."

Mat 6:21       "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

2 Corinthians 11:23 "Are they ministers of Christ?--I speak as a fool--I [am] more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often.

2Cr 11:24 From the Jews five times I received forty [stripes] minus one.

2Cr 11:25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;

2Cr 11:26 [in] journeys often, [in] perils of waters, [in] perils of robbers, [in] perils of [my own] countrymen, [in] perils of the Gentiles, [in] perils in the city, [in] perils in the wilderness, [in] perils in the sea, [in] perils among false brethren;

2Cr 11:27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness--

2Cr 11:28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.

2Cr 11:29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn [with indignation]?

2Cr 11:30 If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity.

2Cr 11:31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.

2Cr 11:32 In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to arrest me;

2Cr 11:33 but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands"

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Luke 21:14 ""Therefore settle [it] in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer;

Luk 21:15 "for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.

Luk 21:16 "You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put [some] of you to death.

Luk 21:17 "And you will be hated by all for My name's sake"

Hmmm!!!  Christ was our example and He did not escape poverty and persecution, what would make us think we would.  Joel Osteen spits in the face of God when he writes a book entitled, "Your Best Life Now."  This may be the best life now for those who are refusing Christ and ultimately will end up in a firey hell.  But for the believer, nothing on this earth should take us captive, not wealth, not health nor the love of all the people that surround us.  Our best life is to come when we go before the Savior and hear His Words, "Well done good and faithful servant."

We as believers yearn for our heavenly home and our husband that dwells in us now and will one day take us home.