Don't Let the Devil Have a Foothold

Often the narcissist will pretend you are the person they want to believe you are when they are really describing themselves in their own minds.

When we encounter those who will not tell us why they are angry with us or treat us disrespectfully, even denying that they do it, we are experiencing someone who is controlled by the devil and lacks all the fruit of the Spirit and the love of Christ.

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."

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

"4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8a Love never fails."

When someone is constantly showing contempt and disregard for someone else we know this person is not walking in the Holy Spirit. When someone is exacting revenge for not following them, we know we have met someone walking fleshly without the love of God.

May we as born-again believers walk in the Spirit of Christ no matter what anyone else is doing around us. May we not respond in ungodly ways to personal attacks or demeaning. The devil wants us to do back to others what they do to us, but God wants us to do the opposite to others than what they do to us.

Luke 6:31

"31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them."

Tell the truth with kindness in your voice and ignore the response to what we say. The response is not our business, only our obedience to Christ is our business.

Never let the narcissist turn us into them, this is what the devil wants, frustrate the devil by continuing to walk in the kindness and love of the Lord no matter what.

Christ's Love vs the World's Love

1 Corinthians 13:4-8
"4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. 5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, 6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

The world's love is nothing like the Love Christ places in every born-again heart. What the world thinks is love is always self-seeking, even the good deeds they do for others are done to glorify self. It is not a pure love from a selfless heart as is the love of Christ in those who have trusted in Him.

When Can Antichrist Be Revealed?

Typical Human Nature can be Changed by Christ

So typical of human nature isn't it, to desire the one thing we cannot have when we already have so much?

We have enjoyed incredible freedom in this country for several generations but have not become grateful, rather the nation has demanded more and to retain what it has.

Instead of praising God for His blessings to us the nation as a whole has the mentality of entitlement, believing that since we had good for so long we deserve it and demand it more than we want Christ.

One day, and I think soon, God is going to remove the blessing we praised ourselves for instead of Him. When a nation demands to have the freedom to sin all it wants is when God becomes weary of our foolishness and disregard for Him. He begins to withdraw that which we worshiped more than Him, that is our freedom.

I hear many people complaining about many things, the food, the medical doctors, the price of things, and much more when they have much more than they deserve and everything they need. I don't mean they have everything they want, but they do have everything they need.

If we were to spend one day writing down all the blessings we have we might begin to feel ashamed of ourselves. Divorces would diminish, fights with neighbors would end, family squabbles would disappear, yes and even our bank accounts would grow without debt.

In other words, we would live by the principles of the Bible and it would bless us more than material possessions, so much so that we would not hunger after things we could not obtain. Our attention would turn to kindly relationships, helping rather than ignoring those around us.

The more our culture aspires to personal aggrandizement, personal accomplishment, and personal pleasure the less we concern ourselves with people, living, breathing people with emotional and spiritual needs.

Born-again believers ought to be more focused on Christ and His commands and principles to us that material possession pale in comparison. Yes, we have much in the country, all of us have been blessed with much more than we need, and yet we fight for more.

Even our difficulties are a blessing for what they teach us if we acknowledge God as the King in our lives over all things.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

Colossians 2:6-7

"6 Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,

7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude."

Gratefulness is the key to our joy and peace. When we lose that gratefulness we lose purpose. Our joy comes from obedience to Christ and love toward Him and mankind.

Psalm 103:1-4

"Praise for the Lord’s Mercies.

A Psalm of David.

103 Bless the Lord, my soul,

And all that is within me, bless His holy name.

2 Bless the Lord, my soul,

And do not forget any of His benefits;

3 Who pardons all your guilt,

Who heals all your diseases;

4 Who redeems your life from the pit,

Who crowns you with favor and compassion;"

May each of us implement His principles in our lives here and now even if no one else does.

If everyone focused on the blessings and principles of Christ there would be no conflict and nothing but love all around us. We will see this one day in the Millennium when Christ rules as King of Kings. Hallelujah!!!!

Be the One to Bring the Joy Back into the Room

I have met many people who just seem angry all the time. They are only happy when they get attention or want something else. I know it has to do with these end times written about in 2 Timothy 3:1-5.

It is a challenge in our day to obey God when so many people walk into the room and suck all the joy out as though the devil had walked in the door.

As believers, we must remain continually mindful of God's Word, His promises, and our future reward so that we do not become caught in the net of the evil one through the influence of those who do not know Christ.

Here's what God tells us to help us maintain our joy.

Philippians 4:8

"8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is [a]lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

Keep looking up and only Christ will have power over us.

The Born-Again Believer Avoids Sin

Psalm 103:17-18

"But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them."

Born-again believers do not practice a lifestyle of sin blatantly defending their sin.

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.…"

Anyone who tells you it doesn't matter if a believer sins because they are "under the blood" is not understanding God's Word. When Christ changes us through our born-again experience we are no longer the same person, we hate sin as God hates it and love righteousness. A born-again believer would never defend sin, they would be ashamed of their sin and confess it to be cleansed.

1 John 1:9 … "8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us."

Proverbs 28:13

He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy."

When a believer sins they are tormented by the conviction of the Holy Spirit. If they ignore the Spirit and continue then He will stop speaking to them and allow them to experience the consequences of their sin and if they die without confessing it they will lose rewards in heaven.

1 Corinthians 3:15 "If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as fire."

Psalm 66:18 -

18 "If I regard wickedness in my heart,

The Lord will not hear;"

When we are born-again and fall into sin we eventually will confess to be cleansed of that sin.

1 John 2:1 "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

Many Christians count themselves as not sinning because they do not do the big sins that have terrible consequences. The problem with this is that many people who are not born-again live good lives without big sins but are going to hell for not trusting in Christ.

God looks at the heart, the most law-abiding person can have sinful desires in their heart that they don't carry out because of the consequences, not because they are convicted of sin. Those who have not trusted Christ but rely on their good actions to carry the day will find out that they will not make it to heaven because their actions looked good. Their heart remained sinful and that is what takes them to hell.

This is why it is not good to judge a person as "good" when all you know about them is their good deeds.

Matthew 7:21-23 "21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

No one can have bad deeds and a good heart. If our deeds are evil then our heart is evil too. Many people count on being able to deny their sinful subtle attitude, they are comfortable as long as they can deny their sinful attitude and others cannot prove it. It's called "plausible deniability", when they have a desire to harm someone but do it so covertly that no one can prove it.

As believers we need not prove the attitudes and actions of others, we can leave the punishment to God. We can often see with God's discernment in us what they are doing but we need not correct it when we know they will deny what they do, we can allow God to correct them.

When we see ourselves tempted to respond to them in a rude manner we can ignore the feelings and pray that God will give us peace.

We must not do revenge and we must not respond in kind. When we bless everyone all the time we will have a clear conscience, walking in joy and peace no matter what others are doing.

Romans 12:19

"19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord."

By the way; The phrase "give him a taste of his own medicine" is ungodly and a form of revenge.

We must not allow rude and mean people to entice us to do as they do, we are to be Christlike no matter what others do.

"Plead the Blood" is not Biblical

There are no scriptures that say; "plead the blood of Jesus" over anything. The blood of Jesus shed on the cross was accounted to our penalty, to cleanse our sin. "Plead the blood of Jesus" over everything for protection is a Pentecostal term used for just about everything, it is not Biblical.

When we are in Christ we have no need for a "mantra", simple prayer because of our relationships with Him is sufficient.

Christians have no mantras or incantations commanded by God,, just prayer and belief is necessary for the born-again believer.