Be Sober, Be Vigilent the Devil is Roaming

When you know your enemy you have a better chance of defeating him. The devil is our enemy Christ in us has defeated him. We must lean into the Holy Spirit refusing to consider the tricks and see the evil behind them.

1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Matthew 16:22-24 "…22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Far be it from You, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to You!” 23 But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” 24 Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.…"

Christ looked at Peter but addressed the devil who was influencing him.

When you are looking at a person who has done harm and continues to attempt to harm you, do not see the person, discern the devil who is using that person. That person needs Christ in order to stop being influenced by the devil. Even believers who are lazy Christians can be influenced by the devil's ideas and thoughts, we see it all the time.

Those believers who defend sin, who walk in indifference to the Word of God, who throw the born-again believer under the bus to be accepted by the culture around them, are being influenced by the devil. We also encounter pretenders who say they are Christians but use the Bible to twist according to their own ideas and personal comfort and gain.

When Peter used his human wisdom to influence Christ his thoughts were not his own, they were the very thoughts of the devil, not because the devil believed these things but because he wanted to cause Peter to ruin God's plan. Sure, many people think the thoughts they have are their own and good ones, but in reality, those thoughts were placed by the devil to destroy the work of Christ. We know this because the thoughts of the devil are irrational at best, no matter how good they sound.

When you are called by God to do something and a superficial disobedient Christian comes along and chastises you for doing what God told you to do, you know where those ideas come from, they come from the father of lies.

Matthew 4:10

"Away from Me, Satan!" Jesus declared. "For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.'"

We need not explain ourselves to the person or the devil, just simply reject the attempt by saying, "I see that you do not understand, nevertheless I will do as God tells me to do."

The devil uses people to bring sadness, anger, and contempt toward others who desire to obey Christ. We need not walk in anger or sadness when we know it is the devil who is working to ruin us. He cannot ruin us when Christ is defending us. He can only ruin our witness if we let him through refusing to seek Christ in all things.

Our walk with Christ is so free, free of the influence of the devil when we make a practice of consulting with the Holy Spirit continually. We need not see any person as a threat to us knowing their words are not their own, but those of the one who desires to destroy us and our witness, that is the devil. When we trust in Christ we do not fear losing a friend who will not stand behind our decision to obey Christ.

If we must diminish our walk with Christ in order to keep a friend then that person is not a real friend anyway. Our friends who love God will want to support whatever God is telling us to do, they will be an asset and not a detriment. We too want to be loyal and faithful friends to those who want to walk with Christ. Let us also BE the friend to others that we need for ourselves.

Hallelujah!!!!

What is Love?

Love is not words, nor is it acts of kindness. Does this shock you to hear this?

Love is a mentality of deep concern about another human being.

People can do acts of kindness to elevate themselves, this is not love, although kindness can come from a heart of love.

People can say kind things, this too is not love, however saying kind things can come out of a heart of love.

When we love someone we care what happens to them, whether or not their life aligns with the principles of Christ. When our lives align with the principles of Christ that is where there is the greatest blessing.

When we love someone we are more interested in their inner heart than their outward expression. When the inner heart aligns with the outward expressions there is where we find genuine Christ-like love.

Many ungodly people do acts of kindness because it makes them feel good, without much if any concern about the person for whom they do the deeds. These people need to have others observe the good deeds to gain their favor or accolades.

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.…"

The truly loving kind person never tells others about their good deeds. They are satisfied that the person receiving their gift of care is blessed. No blessing has to come back to the giver who has the love of God residing in them.

When Christ died on the cross for the sins of others, He had no blessing to Himself, it was completely sacrificial. He had nothing to gain by the terrible monstrous torture He went through on the cross, except that He loved those He died for, those who will trust in Him.

Truly godly kind loving people do their acts and have their attitudes because it is the mind of Christ from whom they operate.

When we are born again walking with Christ we do not have to work up kindness or love, it is a part of our very being, therefore it is not something we have to think about or try to be, it is as natural as breathing to us.

Those who walk in self-exaltation cannot possibly have the mind of Christ or the desire to be like Him. They are completely satisfied with themselves, they are their own god in their own mind.

The fruit of the Spirit is not good deeds, it is the very nature of God. It has become a sort of DNA to our soul.

Galatians 5:22-23

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

When we fail and temporarily lean into our feelings through the desires of the flesh we are tormented with guilt that we have offended the Holy Spirit that lives in us. We cannot stand to continue with the wrong attitude or action. Those who love the Lord and live by the Holy Spirit hate sin as much as Christ in them does. This is why born-again believers are so sensitive to any thought that they may have hurt someone.

1 John 3:8-10 "…8 The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.…"

These are some clues whether or not someone claiming to be a Christian has been changed into a new creation by Christ. When we are changed we are no longer the person we used to be, loving the way unbelievers think, we now love the way Christ thinks.

Hallelujah!

Will You Bail Out or will you Soldier On!

James 1:2-4 "2 Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters 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."

When we face trials we don't attempt to bail ourselves out through protest and disobedience. God walks through with us as we learn the lessons from the trials through the help of the Holy Spirit.

So many people bail themselves out before they have a chance to learn the lesson and before they learned endurance for the sake of Christ.

Divorce and remarriage have become the go-to solution for marriage difficulties. Many people who divorce miss the blessing of watching God work by "deleting" their spouse before God shows them their own hearts and before He works in their spouse's heart.

Those who adamantly defend divorce and remarriage are not thinking in terms of God's highest, they are only thinking in terms of their personal enjoyment of life. They run like scarred bunny rabbits rather than hanging in there to work through a solution. They do this because they do not hear the Holy Spirit and most do not have Him at all, their help comes from the foolish and beggarly ideas of the world.

Sadly many people miss the blessing of "soldiering on" to come out the other side victoriously against all odds. There is no longer anything noble to fight for in the lives of most people. The suggestion that it is noble and courageous to march into a fight armed with the Holy Spirit is foolishness to those who believe they do not need God and will move forward in their human wisdom to do what they want to do.

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."

The lives of many people who divorce and remarry are beggarly missing the blessings of God while they believe all is right with the world. They do not see the pitfalls as a problem, they run from those as readily as they ran from the marriage challenges.

We are living in a "cancel" culture right now, if we don't like someone we "cancel them" as though they have no right to exist. Without compassion, a depth of understanding, and empathy the people move through life seeking only their own interests without regard to the needs and hurts of others.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 "3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult (ragingly insane) 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."

When trouble comes, and it will seek Christ, not the person or relative who will validate our feelings to bail out. Seek the Word of God for what is right and those people who will bring the Word. Too many people are twisting the Word to fit what they want causing division in the body as well as destruction to marriages that could be reconciled.

1 Corinthians 7:10-11 "…10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife. "

It was God Who said the words in 1 Corinthians, not me. If someone does not want to believe them then go and argue with God. If anyone is attempting to search the Bible for loopholes to be able to divorce and remarry there are none. Those who say they have a loophole have not consulted God for truth or they would know God hates divorce and any loopholes they thought they found are not valid.

God's Word is true, twisting it to make it say what someone wants does not change His truth, it only makes them a liar.

Acts 5:3-4

"But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”

To add to the Bible or subtract from it is to lie against God, this is very serious!

Christ Died Alone for the Sins of Others

We can never be more alone than Christ was as He hung on that cross for the sins of others while no man was at the foot of that cross, it was the women.

All those who loved and followed Him even preached with Him were absent. Jesus Christ had the love of the Father and still cried out; "Father why have you forsaken me."

Jesus Christ did the greatest thing anyone could ever do and He did it by Himself, in a manner of speaking. No one deserves more praise than He does for what He did for us!!!!

So then why do so many believers disregard His commands in His Word which are the very essence of Who He is, that is God with the authority to command us His children.

Hallelujah!!!!

Christ Love Sustains us When the World Hates Us!

My personal testimony about the permanency of marriage and God's will in a difficult marriage.

We have to remember we chose the person we married and probably without much prayer. I believe God would have warned us and we would have listened if we had asked Him.

Most people base their desire for someone on physical attraction and on how friendly they are before the marriage. Everyone is friendly to the one they want to win. It is very hard to discern a person's character when we are busy desiring them. The clues are always there, we just ignore them to focus on what we want to believe about them.

In my case, I was a cultural Christian who became Catholic to marry my husband. I was 16 years old when we became engaged. We married when I was 18 and no we didn't live together as people do now.

After we were married I became a Christian while my husband was an unsaved Catholic. It was rough, he was angry at me all the time about everything because of my "radical Christian thinking." I prayed that God would save him, and eventually, he did. My point, I was so convinced by God that I was to stay married no matter what that I agonized in prayer for his salvation. Yes there were times when I threatened divorce but God did not allow me to carry it out, He gave me His love to be able to see the value in the marriage even if I had to live in difficulty the rest of my life.

So often we ignore the clues before marriage that are blatantly evident after marriage. We don't seek God for our marriage and we rely on attraction rather than the important character qualities.

Bottom line: we must stay married, focus on prayer for our spouse and allow God to do work in us as we become more Christlike. Our focus cannot be on our trials, it must be on our own character building through the trials. Just some thoughts I learned that might help those in agony in a difficult marriage.

My children still treat me the way my husband did before he became born again. They do not love me nor do they want to hear from me. There is constant irritation at any mention of God as well as rejection toward me. I know this is because of the influence of non-believing family members who treated me with contempt during their up-bringing. They passed their stories about me to their spouses and I get the same treatment from their spouses.

I pray for my children regularly but have no expectation that things will be different between us because of the cultural influence of self-worship so deeply entrenched in this world. I no longer look for validation or love from family, all of that is fulfilled by Christ in me. It would be a happy day if this all changed and the family repented and became new creations in Christ, however, if that never happens I remain full of joy and love through Christ Who lives in me.

We have to remember we may never experience love in this world as the world grows darker, but we always have Christ who loved us more than any human being could. Many who would say they love and honor us do not know what it looks like because they do not have Christ. Christ's love is clearly evident to those of us who have experienced it, there is no question that it is far greater than any human love.

Matthew 10:35-37 "…35 For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ 37 Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me;…"

Matthew 10:21

"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death."

Nehemiah 8:10

"Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

This passage was written to Israel but the lesson applies to all those today who love the Lord. He is our strength, if we have no one else we always have Him and He is enough.

Philippians 4:4

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice."

Come Out From Among Them

"When most hear the word “leaders,” they think of institutionalized leaders. An institutionalized leader is one who has been institutionalized by an institutional-church system. Institutionalized leaders are not true leaders; they have not been appointed by Christ, but by the religious system that credentials them." Larry Jones

Mr. Jones has correctly stated here that leaders are not ordained by man to be leaders in the church, they are commissioned by Christ as they are led into the ministry by the Holy Spirit. They are not chosen by God based on a diploma from a human institution. The men who appoint these leaders are men who are led by the Holy Spirit and know the personal lives of each one they appoint. The men who serve a congregation were well known by that congregation before they were appointed.

Leaders did not come to a completely unfamiliar assembly from far away, not knowing the people and the people not knowing them. There is danger in choosing someone based on their "credentials" from a Bible college when no one knows their lives and attitude. So many church splits have happened because an unknown person comes into the congregation and begins to teach whatever he was taught in those institutions rather than from the Holy Spirit and unadulterated Bible. I have seen this more times than I can count.

Titus 1:4-6 "4 To Titus, my true child in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. 5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you would set in order what was unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. 6 An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, having children who are believers and who are not open to the accusation of indiscretion or insubordination.…"

Acts 14:23

"Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church, praying and fasting as they entrusted them to the Lord, in whom they had believed."

The leaders for church gatherings were chosen from among the people where they lived not from far away. These men were known by the people they would serve, there were no "credentialed" persons based on a diploma or degree. These men were led by the Holy Spirit, receiving their instruction from the Holy Spirit.

Our human institutions that seem to think they can do a better job than the Holy Spirit are humanistic and earthly oriented. If there was a human institution that began with well-meaning intentions have gone bad because the grants they were given by powerful and wealthy men removed an opportunity for the institution to rely entirely on Christ. When the institution relies on grants by wealthy men they begin to teach what those benefactors expect them to teach. Relying on the monies from grants is a pitfall for any institution.

When pastors began to be paid a salary for their "work" they saw their job as a job rather than as a calling from God. Whether they realized it or not they began to be careful not to offend those who paid them their salary. In fact it morphed into men in the pulpit holding up their finger to the wind to see which way it was blowing in order to determine their sermons to please the people in the pews.

Rebukes became non-existent, parishioners became expectant that they would fire the one man paid pastor if he taught what they didn't like to hear.

So in our day, we have many pastors who are tickling ears to keep their salary and medical benefits.

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."

When a man is a preacher because he loves the Lord and depends entirely on Him for his help, this man will not water down or compromise the message because he has nothing to lose if the people don't like it. If all the elders preached and taught and no one is paid there need not be worry about being fired or losing something that sustains them.

Each elder has their own job to sustain their families, they have no need for stipends from the congregation. When a traveling preacher comes through the gathered funds from the congregation can gift this visitor with whatever he needs to travel from place to place. This is not the same as a steady salary.

1 Corinthians 9:14

"In the same way, the Lord has prescribed that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel."

This passage has been interpreted in terms of our modern western thinking that allows for salaries for a one-man pastor system which is clearly unbiblical. Paul said to "appoint elders", he never said "appoint a pastor", this means that one man is never the entire focus of any gathering. There is to be a plurality of leaders in a gathering so that no one man would ever be the focus.

In most gatherings today the pastor is seen in an almost idolatrous way, the only one who can preach or teach. The people in the pews will not hear anyone else and even become angry when the pastor is corrected by someone. This too is unbiblical.

Having come out of the Catholic church I am painfully aware of the idolatrous way the priests are admired and treated with such honor that no one is allowed to criticize them. Believe it or not, having seen this system and come out I began to see it in Protestantism, in which the diplomaed pastors were given this same idolatrous honor, as though any challenge to them was considered monstrous.

I used to say to people that Protestants have their "protestant popes", astonished that I would think so they would counter me with; "no we don't." Because they didn't know the Bible or God's order in the church gathering they thought it was biblical to have a paid one-man pastor who knew everything and only he could teach the truth.

This led to much error in the church as the seminaries churned out men who were trained by other men how to grow numbers in the church while dumbing down the truth to get the people in the pews.

Many men were drawn to the seminaries because of their lust for power over people. There are many narcissists in the pulpits today who use joking, stories and intimidation to entertain and dominate over the people. Often very little scripture is used and peppered with human wisdom with the origins coming out of psychology.

I was in a church many years ago in which an "ordained" pastor held the Bible above his head and proclaimed that all of life's answers were not in this book, and all of life's answers are not Jesus Christ." We were not in the pew that day but heard it from others who also attended there. Needless to say, we left that gathering and never returned.

This was a sad day for us, we had just left the Catholic church and this protestant church was recommended to us by people we knew. We had no idea as new believers that any "Christian" thought this way. We were on fire for the Lord as new believers we didn't know others thought this way.

Even though many pastors would not say those ugly words this pastor said, they act as though they believe them.

I have begun to believe that most men who go to Bible college these days are there for the power, special knowledge over others, and a secure job, not because they have been called by Christ. The evidence is in the arrogance they display and the twisting of scripture they do on a regular basis.

If you are one of these pastors please search your heart and seek the Holy Spirit. If you want to be led of Christ leave these organizations, come out from among them and begin all over again to obey God's Word.

2 Corinthians 6:16-18 "…16 What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.” 17 “Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” 18 And: “I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”"

If you happen to attend a good gathering where there is a pastor be careful not to make him your idol. This system is not a salvation issue but has brought a lot of misunderstanding to the gathering as well as the people in the pew depending on the pastor rather than doing their own studies, prayer and seeking Christ at home.

If you happen to attend a good gathering where there is a pastor be careful not to make him your idol. This system is not a salvation issue but has brought a lot of misunderstanding to the gathering as well as the people in the pew depending on the pastor rather than doing their own studies, prayer and seeking Christ at ho