No Need for Family Support When We have Christ

Often we lament the fact that we do not have family support for our walk with Christ. Christ is enough be joyful and confident in Him.

I am stronger supported by Christ than if I had been supported by family. Support from ungodly people is often superficial and insincere, it is not real help but almost a burden.

In these cases, it is better to be alone with Christ.

Colossians 1:13-20

The Incomparable Christ

13 For He rescued us from the [b]domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,

14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation: 16 for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.

17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

18 He is also the head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,

20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross."

Isaiah 60:2

"For behold, darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness is over the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you, and His glory will appear over you."

Ephesians 6:12

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world's darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

The struggle we endure in this life is not just in the world, it is also in the church gatherings because they have been filled with the worldly-minded unregenerate people who love to pretend they are Christian but have no love for Christ.

Narcissism is rampant everywhere now causing many to pretend to be good while they remain in rebellion against God. They are more interested in appearing good on the outside without having a changed heart. OR, they try to change their own heart in their own power without Christ, full of pride at their own accomplishment.

Their love and service fall short because it is not Christ working in them, it is their monstrous pride in self-glory that dominates and controls them.

The hostility against the Word of God while defending their own idea of goodness, using scripture to justify their arrogance they misuse God's Word and rage against those who expose their lies.

We are living in the days of apostasy, when self is on the throne and not Christ.

2 Timothy 4:2-4 "…2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires. 4 So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.…"

These apostates defend the sin of others who defy God and abuse those who speak the words of God.

Isaiah 30:10

They say to the seers, "Stop seeing visions!" and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions."

Jude 10-11

"10 But these people disparage all the things that they do not understand; and all the things that they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.

11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have given themselves up to the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

12 These are the ones who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, like shepherds caring only for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted;

13 wild waves of the sea, churning up their own shameful deeds like dirty foam; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved forever."

Because we as a culture are so accustomed to the way things are we are easily fooled by happy smiles and phony kind deeds. As long as the outside appears good we do not look into the hearts.

Galatians 5:22-23

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

This fruit of the Holy Spirit is only seen by the Spiritual mind of those who have been born again, it is a heart matter that only those who love Christ will be able to discern.

1 Corinthians 2:13-15 "…13 And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment.…"

Finally, we will not be understood by most people, not even those in church gatherings because those who think in terms of God's Word will come against nearly everyone since our minds think automatically in Biblical terms.

Most "Christians" take parts of the Bible they believe elevate them in some way out of context and believe they have been faithful to the Bible when there is very little of God's Word they actually honor and obey.

Do not be dismayed when you are reviled by those who say they love you but do not, and do not be dismayed when they betray you in favor of being accepted by those they wish to impress, God sees it all and judgment is coming.

2 Timothy 2:12-14 "…12 if we endure, we will also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He will also deny us; 13 if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. 14 Remind the believers of these things, charging them before God to avoid quarreling over words, which succeeds only in leading the listeners to ruin.…"

Those who are self-important and resistant to truth will never listen and will punish anyone who attempts to reason with them, let them go.

May God have the final say in all things for His children, may He teach us truths that sustain us and grow us in holiness. May we ignore our emotions that lead us to become like those who revile us. The temptation to react rather than respond rationally is always present as the devil messes with our minds, don't let him.

James 4:6-8 "6 But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.…'"

Acting Christlike or Becoming Christlike, these are Two Different Things

When a person is working hard to be the person they know they should be will fail miserably because they are pridefully trying to make themselves into the right kind of person.

When we pray for Christ to change our hearts into what it should be then they will be changed by Him and all his actions and attitudes will be authentic.

We see a lot of fake love based on personal desires and actions that glorify self and not God.

Those who work hard in their own flesh to be a good person will also be the person who will be intensely angry at those who see through their pretense.

Rather than repenting to be changed by Christ, many are learning the ways of God to do their changing in their own flesh but it is not real and does not last because it is fleshly without power and without authenticity.

God does not bless the phony pretense of those who think they can change themselves.

I have heard people say the best way to change ourselves is to force ourselves to do something over and over again until it becomes a habit. This does not work because it is not God changing their hearts it is only them changing their actions without a heart change.

One of the reasons we see so many old people who used to be friendly becoming rude in their old age is because they have lived their life working to impress others rather than seeking Christ for a heart change.

This is the problem with many churchgoers, they are attending gatherings to impress others that they are good people but no heart change has occurred because they are doing "religion" rather than having a relationship with Christ.

Proud of how good they think they are they elevate themselves above others, boast about themselves regularly and become easily offended when someone points out their sham.

They will work against the truth if it exposes their sinful heart. They will rage against anyone who uses the Bible to bring God's word to bear on any matter. The anger and the rage are attempts to discredit the truth teller intimidating them into thinking they did something wrong by exposing the hatred of the one who wants to be a god unto themselves.

Avoid such people they will attempt to ruin your walk with Christ and blame you falsely in order to trigger you into fleshly responses.

If they can get you to respond our of frustration they count themselves as having proved you were wrong and they don't have to listen to the truth.

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, [a]haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of [b]godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these."

Notice in this passage in 2 Timothy we see that these people will have a form of religion but deny God in their lifestyle, their attitudes and their actions.

Let us be people who search the word of God to obey and to learn the heart of God, not just read to have knowledge to impress others but to actually become like Christ.

The Devil Is Trying to Complicate a Relationship Situation If . . .

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Rulishness or Authentic Godliness

Children look for rules to be able to stay our of trouble.

Mature adults look for understanding and deeper relationships with God and others.

Most "religious" people are on the level of children in their understanding of God and His Word. They look for the rules to be able to feel safe and to appear superior to others.

Mature believers look for the principles of God to learn His heart and function on the level of love and understanding.

The more mature believer wants to carry out the Spirit of the principles and laws that function with compassion and kindness.

"Religious" people do not attempt to understand others, they merely expect the rules an exact revenge or punishment when those rules are violated even in the slightest.

Rulishness is designed to control others while mature believers attempt to understand to be able to help. Never anywhere in the Bible do we see a passage that says we are to control others or intimidate them into submission.

Those who use rules to control others don't care about the person they wish to dominate, all they care about is making them a puppet of them.

Matthew 23:15 (ESV)

"15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves."

The goal of the "religious" people is to shape others into their own idea of righteousness, no understanding or love is necessary.

Those who are authentic believers love others and are more concerned about their well-being than the rules. They seek to help through instruction and empathy. The goal of the authentic believer is to restore the broken person to full health. The goal of the dominant rulish person is to praise themselves if they can force another person to think the way they think. They have no compassion or tolerance of difference in order to learn another person's heart or even to learn themselves, they cannot be taught because they are stubborn and self-righteous. These people ruin relationships every where they go and never become close to anyone, everything they do is based on superficial appearances.

Let's not be people who focus on rules rather lest be people who care deeply for the well-being of others that they might be restoed.

Unspoken RULES of the Narcissistic Family