There is safety in discernment and danger without it.
Intuition is important in our walk as believers.
Intuition definition: "the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning."
God calls "intuition" discernment. If we have the discernment of Christ, Who lives in us, we will not be taken in by the wiles of the devil.
Psalm 111:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!”
Proverbs 3:13 “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding,”
Philippians 1:9 “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment…”
Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
Hebrews 5:14 “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”
James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
James 3:17 “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.”
Romans 12:2 " 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God."
Believers in Jesus Christ are called to be filled with the Holy Spirit, in this state we do not "react" to things we "respond."
When we are able to respond according to the Holy Spirit leading, we enjoy the blessing of a clear conscience no matter what evil people do or say to us.
Evil people are accusers, full of provocation to get us to react so they can feel justified in their abuse. It's perverted and wicked, but very effective in causing believers to fall into their trap. These people don't care if what they say or do is based on truth, they only care that they make you stumble. Causing others to stumble for their own personal power over others is the basest form of evil.
1 Peter 5:7-9 "…7 Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in your faith and in the knowledge that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.…"
Punishing believers for their righteousness is the favored tactic of the devil. Never defend yourself for doing what is right, just do it, remain silent and keep moving forward in your walk with Christ.
Revelation 12:9-11 "…9 And the great dragon was hurled down—the ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, he who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; and they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death.…"
We can choose how we respond to the tactics of the devil, we do not have to be a puppet on his string.
The biggest red flag of the "prosperity preachers" is their use of flattery to entice you into feeling good about yourself. Their goal is to get you to focus on all that you can get for yourself rather than loving and pleasing Christ.
When the focus is on how good we are, we are not likely to confess sin, we won't see ourselves as sinful, we will be filled with pride.
It is human nature to love being elevated, whether or not it's true becomes irrelevant.
Christ shows us our sinfulness that we might trust Him for cleansing. The devil works against any cleansing by making his target see themselves as special and worthy of worship.
God's principles are our protection against evil, the devil wants us to be disarmed so that our protection is removed.
How many useless and meaningless activities does our culture engage in everyday that wear out those doing them, but they think they must do to be "busy"?
We live in a culture that thinks we should be doing something all the time, as though quietness and doing nothing for a time is tantamount to wasting time.
Rest is a good thing, time to think and reflect without noise in our ears is calming, allowing us time to ponder God and His principles.
America has continual noise and activity so much all the time that it has pushed out any thought of God from their minds. Their minds are filled with the filth of the world, the false news, the fantasies, the violence and sex, so much so that all our thoughts are interpreted in terms of these things rather than what God thinks of them.
The more we are inundated by the ways of the world the less we can see the meaning of God's principles. Our culture, through movies and psychology have given many a completely wrong view of hell, forgiveness, God's love, relationships and most everything else. The Christianity of our culture, is hardly recognizable as the Christianity of the Bible. Even the Bible reading is evaluated by the things of the culture.
We have been taught not to allow anyone else to instruct us, therefore even though God commands the older ones to instruct the younger ones, they refuse to receive it, even punishing those who would attempt to counsel them, simply because they have been raised by the culture to only listen if it fits their desires.
Psalm 46:10 "10" Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."
Matthew 11:29 "…28 Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”…"
Our culture has made life burdensome by the continual competition to be the ones who do the most, become the best and are master of their own pleasures.
Colossians 3:17
"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."
Proverbs 4:20-22
"My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh."
When our minds are continually focused on the noise around us, we cannot be focused on God. When we are busy figuring out our own way without consulting God, we cannot hear His voice.
Isaiah 30:15 "15 For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said, "In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength." But you were not willing,"
Notice in that verse about 70X7 it says this;
Luke 17:4 "4 Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” In this verse it is clear that the person must come and ask forgiveness that many times to be forgiven that many times.
No place in the Bible does it say to forgive those who are not sorry.
Isaiah 26:10 "10 Though the wicked is shown favor, He does not learn righteousness; He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness, And does not perceive the majesty of the LORD. "
Forgiveness to an un-sorrowful man does not cause them to be sorry, it only further hardens their heart.
Haughtiness: exuding the appearance of being superior.
Isaiah 16:6 "We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride; Even of his arrogance, pride, and fury; His idle boasts are false."
Romans 12:16
"Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight."
When we see someone treating a "less intelligent or less educated" person with contempt, we are witnessing arrogance. Intelligence does not mean superiority, in fact it is wisdom that determines a man's wealth of intellect. Many haughty people display less wisdom than the very people they mock and demean.
Narcissists attempt to impress and exude charm, when in the presence of those above them, but treat with contempt and disdain those they perceive to be beneath them.
If you are being treated with contempt and dismissiveness then you are seeing how the narcissist feels about you, you are, in their minds, beneath them, not worthy of kindness and consideration.
The actions of the narcissists tell you their attitude toward you, they don't have to speak a word, you will know by their conduct, lack of manners and kindness are always present for those who are lesser than in the mind of the narcissist.
Covert narcissists will be sure to do this in secret to their target when no one is looking, and even deny it when confronted to maintain their false persona in the presence of those they wish to impress.
Two things, pray that the Lord show us our blind spots to discover what may be in us that is displeasing to God and secondly, pray that the Lord will help us to learn how to respond when faced with malicious cruelty.
Christ was treated shamefully, mocked, tortured and demeaned even though all He ever did was good, total and complete sacrifice for those who hated Him, and yet He went to the cross anyway.
He left the presence of those who rejected Him and went on to die for them, leaving their final response to God the Father. We can take a lesson from this. We can move on from those who have rejected us, never allowing that rejection to make us timid or relent from continuing on with new people.
Rejection is common, continual and the life God has for us, let our trials not be because we have sinned, fallen into the trap of the narcissist to respond ourselves in a narcissistic way.
Matthew 5:9-11 "…9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.…"
Galatians 6:8-10 "8 The one who sows to please his flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; but the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest, if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to the family of faith.…"
1 Peter 3:16-18 "…16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who slander you will be put to shame by your good behavior in Christ. 17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body, but made alive in the spirit,…"
Self will, self exaltation and self indulgence will eventually place the proud one in the prison of their own minds. To maintain their self proclaimed specialness, the arrogant person must continually day dream grandiosity to maintain their euphoric sense of self importance. They must squash any attempt on the part of others to bring them back to reality and their true state of sinfulness. Not only do they not listen to those around them, they refuse to listen to God, the more they are chastised the harder their heart becomes and the more devious their ploy to ruin those who try to help them.
I can't think of a prison more devastating and stressful than the one of pride, the same pride that afforded the devil loss of status in heaven and eventual hell forever.
Satan wanted to be worshiped and elevated as above everyone and everything, he wanted to be above God, he became enraged when he could not have it. His aim was to destroy everything God loved in revenge against God.
Ezekiel 28:17
"Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you."
The devil had everything but was not satisfied with it, he had to be the most and the best. His pride blinded his eyes to what he had in order to have what he shouldn't want.
Isaiah 14:12-15
"(12) "How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
(13) For you have said in your heart:
'I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
(14) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.'
(15) Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit."
The longer the stubborn heart defends their sin, the harder their heart becomes, until at some point there is no opportunity to become anything else.
2 Kings 17:14
"However, they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers, who did not believe in the LORD their God."
Jeremiah 7:24
"Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward."
The only solution is to repent from stubbornness while there is still time to see the truth and realize their need for Christ.
Christ is the answer, no other answer will do, not trying harder, not pretending through outer actions and no denial of what they are will help, they must admit, confess and ask to be cleansed by Christ. There is no other answer than this.
