Thursday, November 11, 2021
Knowing the Principles of God!!!
If you feel pressured by anyone to "memorize" the Word of God, do not feel guilty when you cannot do this. Everyone can memorize the words having read a verse over and over again. However we cannot memorize the entire Bible, or it is very rare. What we can all do is learn the principles and commands and remember those.
God never told us to "memorize", I know He would not have said this because we could not memorize Hebrew.
He told us to hide His word away in our hearts. Christ is the Word He is the embodiment of His Word, the Bible. We are to hide away in our hearts the principles and commands in the Bible, not the exact words as we see in English.
We read English to learn but it is the concepts and commands that we remember. And Christ reminds us of His principles when we cannot bring up the exact English words.
John 14:25-26 "…25 All this I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you."
Modern Christianity has pressured people to memorize words as though it is the only way to know Christ. It is not the Words only that we know, It is Christ Who we know, it is understanding His heart and with wisdom using what He has told us from His Word.
John 14:26
"26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I said to you."
It is good to continually read the Word of God to learn the heart of God, it does not have to be memorization of the English words, but through a continual learning and deep knowledge of the heart of God that keeps us walking close to Him.
It is not wrong to memorize but it is not necessary to intimately know God. I know in my own life I cannot keep particular words in my head or even addresses of verses in the Bible, but concepts I know very well. I continually look up the concepts I know in the English Bible to convey to others where it is found.
In short, do not be discouraged if you find yourself attempting to memorize but keep having to continually revisit the words as written in our English language. If you know Christ and He lives in you, then you can look up what you need when you need it. Also, even if we do not have chapter and verse but we know the principle we can still speak with authority that something is true according to God's Word.
If we want to prove to someone who wants to know we can go and look it up again to give the chapter and verse.
1 John 5:2-4 "…2 By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome, 4 because everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith."
I see nowhere in any version of the Bible a command to memorize God's Word in any language. We are to Hide His Word away in our hearts, He is there to remind us of what we read. He has also given us many resources to look up the words that help us find the verses.
Often I will type in the google search a few words from the verse I need or the concept with the word "Bible" at the end and the verse comes right up. God is so wonderful in providing us these resources to find what we need to prove that what we say is from God's Word. Of course, it is important to convey the context of a verse so as not to misinterpret meaning.
Far too many people take verses out of context to prove a point that is not even valid. They will claim things based on one verse out of context to make God say what they want Him to say. This is sinful and dangerous.
When we read a verse or phrase we must go to the entire chapter to see who God was speaking to and what He was conveying, not according to our desires or western mindset.
2 John 1:6 "2 John 1:6
And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the very commandment you have heard from the beginning, that you must walk in love."
The only way we can rightly divide the word is if we are honest and we are willing to give up what others have told us and believe only God.
We have many teachers now who are spreading false doctrine because they are not honest, they are attempting to fit into the culture more than they care what God really meant.
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.…"
Do not just believe people, test what they say according to the word, making God more important than the friendship of others.
Tuesday, November 9, 2021
Heaping Hot Coals of Kindness?
If we are working in the flesh to heap hot coals of kindness to evoke a feeling in shame toward someone, we are sinning.
When we authentically love a person who has been offensive and we operate in love toward them when we encounter them, we are doing it in the power of the Holy Spirit to please Christ, our purpose is not to shame or cause bad feelings. Our purpose is to please God and He will use the Holy Spirit to convict.
The reason why we do things is very important. If we have revenge in mind to manipulate the feelings of others with the appearance of kindness, then this is sin.
God wants us to love and treat respectfully everyone, even in our corrective language. When someone approaches others to beat them down to submit to them, this person is fleshly and vindictive. Even if they are right about their stance, they walk fleshly and not in the Spirit of God.
When we love others we are more concerned about helping our friend to understand, not manipulating them into feeling inferior to us. If any of "self" is involved in our conversation with someone in error then we are in sin.
Our responses to others we may disagree with or who have offended us ought to be in humility and love. AND, this can only be accomplished if we are walking in the Spirit.
Galatians 5:15-16 "15 But if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another. 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh."
When there is angst and biting words there is no love. No matter how much we think we are right there is no reason to snark at one another as though the other person is inferior or stupid.
Also, remember it is not only words and tone of voice that conveys arrogance, it is also facial expressions, particularly rolling of eyes which is an expression of contempt.
When we roll our eyes at someone we are saying they are stupid and unworthy to have their own opinions.
If a person is continually treating another human being in these distasteful and mean-spirited expressions then it is best to remove ourselves from them. We remove ourselves because continual contact with them will eventually cause us to become like them.
1 Corinthians 15:33-34 " 33Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.” 34Sober up as you ought, and stop sinning; for some of you are ignorant of God. I say this to your shame.…"
When we are wronged by someone, they snark at us our flesh tends to think we are justified in snarking back at them. If they snark and we snark back we have become like them and have also sinned.
Our response needs to be continually under the power of the Holy Spirit so that we are blameless, without evidence of wrongdoing.
A narcissist snarks to cause snarky reactions in us causing the narcissist to feel justified in their attacks against us. Our focus is not to change anyone else, it is to present the truth and leave the response to Christ.
When we know we cannot change another person we will not react badly when attacked. We will always leave the response of the hearer to God and rest in that.
Proverbs 26:4-5 " 4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him. 5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he become wise in his own eyes.…"
When we fight back with fools they sense that they have won in engaging you in folly. There is only one answer for the fool that is no answer at all. Attempting to reason with a fool is itself foolish.
When we know the Word of God and walk with the Holy Spirit we will not feel the need to have the last word nor will we be frustrated if someone didn't listen. We merely move on and leave that person to the Lord. After all, we are His workmanship and so is the other person.
We have must to learn in these last days of chaos and rebellion. The most important lesson for us now is to learn how to respond or not respond to those who will attempt to cause us to fall into sin.
When we know the devil is behind all the evil, all the snark and all the manipulation we need not feel any frustration at all, we can observe, see the truth as though watching a play and feel nothing.
The most important thing to remember and is a challenge is to remain faithful to God resisting the temptation to have the final say with a narcissist. They will not listen and will misinterpret what we say to fit their angst against us. Resist this when we have to encounter it and avoid them if possible.
Hallelujah, we can walk in peace and joy always when we allow the Holy Spirit to take over in us.
Monday, November 8, 2021
What Does God Know About Us?
Sometimes people judge you based on how they feel about you or what they wish to believe, not on the truth.
Do not be intimidated by them, keep moving forward in your dedication to God and the Bible.
What others think of us does not matter, it is what God thinks of us that matters. Hallelujah
Discerning the Spirit of a Man
John 7:24 "24 Stop judging by outward appearances, and start judging justly.”
If you are not judging at all then you are disobeying God's command to know them by their fruit.
Matthew 7:15-20
You Will Know Them by Their Fruits
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them."
If you are judging someone by their status, their clothing, their accomplishments, then you are judging wrongly.
What do we judge then?
We judge by the fruit of the Spirit, the character qualities of Christ. Here they are:
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."
Those who have Spiritual discernment will be able to judge properly by seeing the Spirit of the man or lack of the Spirit of God.
1 Corinthians 2:14
"But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised."
1 Corinthians 2:11
"For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God."
God said that only the Holy Spirit can discern a man's heart and that Holy Spirit lives in us. Therefore we can discern by His Spirit the heart of a man. Those who say we cannot know are correct, but God knows and He tells us through His Spirit. The unsaved, unregenerate man can't discern the heart of a man, he sees life only in terms of his own fallen understanding. But the believer who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit is able to discern many things unsaved people cannot.
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