Path of Despair

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Yes, this verse again. Because we just don't GET IT!

WE don't understand this as a reality!

Why don't we make the SPIRITUAL real?

Why can't the spiritual be reality?

Did Jesus live a spiritual life?

After Jesus was tempted in the wilderness at the start of His ministry...

Mat 4:11  Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
Mat 4:12  Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
Mat 4:13  And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:
Mat 4:14  That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
Mat 4:15  The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;
Mat 4:16  The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
Mat 4:17  From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Jesus began to preach-
Jesus began to say-

REPENT

for the KINGDOM of HEAVEN is AT HAND.

His entire ministry was based upon this message of salvation.

Is salvation spiritual?  It is as spiritual as it gets.  There is NOTHING more spiritual than Salvation through Jesus Christ our LORD.

Our Savior BEGAN to preach.
Our Savior began a life of PREACHING and through His preaching He was teaching us.  Our Savior was teaching us to be SPIRITUAL, to LIVE SPIRITUAL LIVES.

Our Savior said this to His first chosen apostles-

Mat 4:19  And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.

Think about that? Was Jesus making men fishers of other men in any literal sense? Did Jesus want people to go about gathering people to themselves? When you catch fish for a living why are you catching them? To fed people, yes? To sell them to people, right? You are catching them not with the intention of keeping them all, not with the intention of being able to possess them as though they were actually yours to keep forever. Fish don't last forever, they rot. You can dry them out, you can stuff and mount them, but as living, breathing fish they don't last forever. Being fishers of men was NEVER with the intention of throwing a net around men and bringing them in as a hull that would then become slaves to a master. Those apostles did not become leaders to an army of men meant to do their bidding.

The apostles gathered a SPIRITUAL following, just as Jesus gathered a SPIRITUAL following!

People were given SPIRITUAL instructions, teachings.

We were NOT given a special recipe by our Lord to have the perfect life here on earth. We were NOT given special instructions on how to guarantee an easy, pain free, emotionally care free life HERE ON EARTH.

The message of the KINGDOM is what our SAVIOR preached- in the beginning, middle, and end of His ministering here on earth.

That spiritual message is our HOPE in a future without the horrors sin has corrupted this world with. Christ is our SPIRITUAL HOPE! 

Is it any wonder that Satan would destroy the reality of our Spiritual life?

Jesus taught-

Mat 5:3  Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:4  Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Mat 5:5  Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Mat 5:6  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Mat 5:7  Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Mat 5:8  Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Mat 5:9  Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Mat 5:10  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:11  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Mat 5:12  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Jesus KNEW here and now that our lives in all aspects would be tested and tried and He told us where our HOPE should be.

For theirs is the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
For they shall be…
For they shall inherit…
For they shall be…
For they shall obtain…
For they shall see…
For they shall be…
For theirs is the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
For great is your REWARD IN HEAVEN.

If we do NOT count our HOPE as being in the FUTURE with our SAVIOR- SAVED BY HIM- then we will forever feel the heavy weight of disappointment and yes…despair! 

Satan would have us despair and HE'LL do EVERYTHING in his power to achieve that. In the smallest things to the biggest he will do ALL he can to take our eyes off the PRIZE at the end of our SPIRITUAL RACE. 

When he has our focus on us being poor in spirit, mourning, hungering, thirsting, on our being persecuted, spoken evil of falsely,  when we are focused on those things and NOT on the HOPE then he has us walking on the path of despair and that's a very dangerous place!

The path of despair is a very spiritual place, as is the PATH OF HOPE.

We need to stay on the PATH OF HOPE, and NOT give into the despair Satan will fill our lives with at EVERY single opportunity he gets.

This is REALITY!

This isn't us being someone wrong, this isn't us being losers in life, this isn't us being hopeless people, this IS SATAN driving us to believe in all those things because without SATAN pushing all that onto us, it wouldn't be there. 

We have to CHOOSE to grasp HOPE, the HOPE we can only find in our SAVIOR, and not let satan turn our feet to the path of despair.

We have the choice.

We have to cut through all the spiritual darkness shrouding us by asking for the Spiritual LIGHT to shine down upon us and remind us where our HOPE needs to be and it's not here on earth.  Our hope isn't supposed to be on having a good day, or having a fun time, or enjoying ourselves, or being pain free, or having happy thoughts- it's Satan who wants us to place our hope in those things so he can bring us to our knees in a paralyzing despair at EVERY opportunity!

Please LORD let YOUR LIGHT, the LIGHT OF YOU and YOUR SALVATION SHINE DOWN UPON US AND BREAK THROUGH THE DARKNESS, THAT DEEP DARKNESS OF DESPAIR THAT SATAN WOULD KEEP US SHROUDED IN.  This is a battle we are in, this is a REAL war, and we are REALLY attacked by ogres, and creatures, and all manner of evil beings that are SPIRITUAL evil angels attacking us daily, hourly, minutely! This is REALITY, the reality that SATAN would have us not even begin to acknowledge exists.

PLEASE LORD BLESS US! WE NEED YOU MORE THAN EVER BEFORE!

All in YOUR LOVE, by YOUR GRACE and MERCY ALWAYS!!!!!!!

... it is sin.

Jas 4:17  Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Lately this verse has been on my mind A LOT.

It's revealing a lot of selfishness I'm harboring.

The thing is, I know that should I relate the situations to others I'd be met with a lot of sympathy and not this verse.

We like to console people, not admonish them, especially when they are looking for a sympathetic ear, someone to commiserate with them.

We want people to commiserate with us. We want them to reaffirm our belief that we are being greatly put upon either by others or by situations in our lives. 

We love telling others about our situations, don't we?  We find it hard not to talk about the things we endure. We make lists- this is going on, and this, and not only this but that too. And as we read off this mental list we are expecting understanding from those we talk to.  More often than not we will be entrusted with a list of their 'things' too. We share these hardships and we do so all in the name of something wonderful called 'helping one another'. We help each other this way and yet how much help are we to each other in the spiritual realm of things if we are simply commiserating with someone.

Oh, I know, people all the time say it just helps to be able to talk it out with someone, to air it all out, to just get it off our chests and out from under our hats. It does help, it does because a lot of times we air everything and don't feel so heavily burdened, we've shared the burden even if it's only mentally and a bit emotionally. No problem may be solved but we have an ally, someone who knows and understands AND commiserates.

I'm not going to say it's wrong to talk about it rather than keep it inside but I have to say that perhaps we should talk about it MORE with God than with others. We should look to HIM for commiseration first and foremost. If we find that as we air our grievances before Him that He is really trying to admonish us for something in our lives then we have to accept our correction by Him and praise Him, thank Him for guiding us this wondrous way.

God will use amazing situations to mold and make us IF we allow Him too. If we recognize His teaching through His chastisements. Not every situation we are thrown into is meant to discourage us, but rather refine us.

If we were QUICK to ask God what lessons we are learning, rather than being QUICK to bemoan our situations do you suppose we might learn more? Instead of being quick to judge God by shaking our heads and crying, why me God, why now, why must this all be happening to me? Perhaps we really should be saying - Your will God, teach me through this, help me, show me all I need to be shown, give me the faith I need to endure.

As I said at the beginning of this- a particular verse keeps coming to mind of late:

Jas 4:17  Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Is it really this simple? Doing what we know to be the right thing as oppose to doing things that are questionable?

There are a lot of GOOD things we are to do, but a lot of times we choose rather to do things that are easier, or things that we tell ourselves are good. We do that often, we weigh situations and confronted not with a blatantly good versus bad, we contemplate all the gray areas and often choose one of those because they are close enough to the white area to satisfy the requirement of what we call good.

Maybe I'm writing this and using way too many 'we's'. This could be my own personal struggle here that no one else has, I really don't know and I can't speak for everyone.  But I know as a person who is asked to do a lot of things that I find my first inclination not wanting to do most things but rather stay in my own comfortable existence. I don't want to get up at this particular time, I don't want to go out at another particular time, I really do not want to bother with the yard work, or the scrubbing, or this, that, and the other thing. And because I do have to do so much when I'm asked to do more I justify my not wanting to by bewailing my already seemingly heavy load. 

ANY YET-

To him that knoweth to do GOOD and doeth it NOT to him it is SIN.

Not doing what is good, what is right, but choosing to do other things or even choosing to do nothing is SIN.

WE don't have to commit grave acts of depravity to sin. We can simply look the other way when we should be committing an act of kindness, of goodness, and it is sin.

We don't…or rather I don't think I realized the extent of my sinning in this regard- by choosing not to do something that is good-without murmuring, without complaining, without resentment, etc.

There is a popular song on the Christian radio station lately that has these words-

'You're not finished with me yet.'

I THANK GOD that HE is not finished with me yet because there is so much in me that needs to be refined in the fire.

PRAISE GOD for bringing to my attention all the areas of sin in my life.  Forgive me my awful sinfulness and LORD help me to be Yours fully, YOU IN ME, PUTTING ON CHRIST ALWAYS!

Lord show us ALL where we need to seek Your forgiveness even in the smallest of sins.

Help us ALL LORD to KNOW what is GOOD and to DO that which is GOOD so that we are NOT sinning by choosing not to do the good You reveal to us in ALL things.

Please LORD help me, help us all!

By YOUR grace and mercy!!!!!!!

By YOUR LOVE!

Hated

Hated by the world… 

1Jn 3:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

Joh 15:18  If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Luk 6:22  Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.

The growing hate for Christians is nothing new. Throughout the history of Christianity there have been periods of hate and periods of love for Christianity.  During the times of hate for Christianity always there remained those devoted to Christ. During the times of love there remained those devoted to despising Christ.

Right now the world we live in still embraces the love/hate relationship with Christianity. In some places around the world the hate is so great that those hating Christians are killing them. In other places the hate is causing them to imprison Christians. Still in yet other places Christians are accepted and loved.

The thing about Christians as with ANY follower of ANY religion and those who follow no religion at all- so I guess it's safe to say, the thing is about people in general at any given time we live in and among love and hate, as well as all those gray areas between the two.

There are no perfect people living on earth, not a single one. There was only ONE perfect person and that was Jesus Christ our God, our Savior.

Satan would have us believe that we NEED to be loved by other people and that's one of his lies.  We do NOT need to be loved by any other person alive, not a single one. Yet Satan wants us to strive for the love of others and feel a great self reproach when we begin to believe we are unlovable.

Satan would have us feel self-loathing to the point of such despair that we end our own lives, and he uses the idea of being loved as a tipping point.  We are brainwashed by him through our society to believe that  if we are NOT loved by others then something is horrifically wrong with us. Satan has used LOVE - the idea of LOVE as one of his most successful weapons. He's taken something that belongs to God and IS GOD and twisted so we can hardly recognize what LOVE is.

It's no wonder so many people choose not to believe in God, they do it because they don't recognize Him as love at all. He's become a monster if He exists at all and who wants to worship a monster?

Satan has MANY, MANY, too  many to count, ways of subverting the minds of people so they are ultimately his. 

We have a guard against such attacks and that guard is JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD AND SAVIOR.

LOVE IS GOD.  So when we are told we are to love one another, we are being told to be as God would have us be towards one another- NOT AS WE OR ANYONE ELSE believes we should be.

Some would love to argue that God loves to punish and destroy to kill and bring all sorts of plagues down upon people but God doesn't LOVE that at all!

Love demands God reveal His hatred for sin and all things sinful and when He does this people point their fingers at Him and say He's just being hateful- sinfully hateful.

Every single action by God is a revelation of His character, HIS love. 

God's reaction to sin only reveals His abhorrence of sin.  Do innocents ever die? YES. All the time! But DEATH is not the end of the life of the innocent ones and GOD knew this before even a single innocent ever perished.  God made a provision through JESUS CHRIST OUR SAVIOR to save all those that would claim HIS innocence and all those beyond the ability to choose.  Not a single innocent whether it is a child or an adult with a child's mind, will suffer the second death- the permanent death of non-existence. So yes, if an innocent dies and they do all the time, does this reveal a God of hate like so many choose to believe? No. God has revealed to us that this life we live right now is NOT all there is. In so many ways death is a blessing compared to the pain of living, but even so we are never called to die by our own hands, to cut short our suffering.  Compared to eternity the worse pain that exists is nothing, even though it may seem like EVERYTHING to the one suffering.

Hated by the world.

We are hated by the world when we choose to love like our Savior because the world cannot fully comprehend that love, Satan has held up blinders and they've put them on.

So when we are hated does that mean we should allow despair to creep into our lives? We can't, because despair destroys hope.

Those who hate those -who love and follow a God who is LOVE- are under Satan's control.

We are NEVER TO HATE even the worst of the worst.
We are only to HATE the sin they commit.

As God NEVER hates us the sinner.
God only hates the SIN.

God's love is completely revealed in His Word to us. Even in the very end God will not let people suffer endlessly as so many seem to believe. God will allow the sinner to be as if they never were because in the world that will come and exist some day by GOD'S WILL, to have any unrepentant, unforgiven sinner left alive would exhibit a cruelty that is beyond God.  Satan has brought that fallacy to fruition, and spread the lie far and wide and has unfortunately been all too successful in getting people to fall victim to His deceptions.

We will be hated- this is a FACT.

Even if you live in part of the world that isn't actively pursuing their hatred of Christ's followers, you are hated.  You are hated by SATAN and all those he can inspire to hate you.

You may NEVER be loved in the way of the world, and Satan will happily use this to bring you to despair.

By the GRACE and MERCY of GOD may we NEVER be brought to that place of despair, never!

May we forever know and realize the LOVE Of CHRIST is all we need in this world!

And may we grow ever closer to our LORD, our GOD, OUR SAVIOR, to HIS LOVE and in doing so, have HIS love in us!

All IN HIM, ALWAYS! 

Temptations

I1Pe 1:6  …IN heaviness through MANIFOLD temptations.

Are you in heaviness through manifold temptations?

Are you constantly being tempted?

Our defects of character are constantly exposed aren't they? And it's so easy, so incredibly easy for us to say, well that's just who I am, if you don't like it, tough.  We are who we are. We say it, we think it and we believe it. We are who we are character defects and all. Do you suppose we are meant to believe that? Biblically, are we meant to believe we are who we are - our temperament, our reserved-ness, our boisterousness, our cantankerousness,   our meekness, our … well, you get the picture. Are we really supposed to just shrug our shoulders and agree that we are who we are?

I don't think so.

Col 3:12  Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Col 3:13  Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
Col 3:14  And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
Col 3:15  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

Put on-   we might not have this on already if we are being told to 'put on', right?  Our character right now might now possess these things and yet we are told to 'PUT ON' the following-

Mercy, kindness, humbleness, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance, forgiveness, charity.

If we truly examine our defects of character allowing ourselves to be completely honest, then we would realize that those defects stand in opposition to the things we are to 'put on'. 

Our temper is in opposition to our forbearance and longsuffering.  Our selfishness in opposition to our kindness, our charity.

We give into so many temptations because we lack the character traits we are to 'put on'. We'd rather feel the weight of guilt than suffer deprivation of whatever temptation lies before us.

We don't want to be long suffering in any way, it seems to go against our very perverted natures. And yes, our natures have been terribly perverted by sin.

We are constantly being tempted and we are constantly making excuses for succumbing to temptations.  We excuse away ourselves on so many levels we barely know who we really are underneath all of the sin stains soaked deep into our hearts.

We are allowed manifold temptations, and we feel the heaviness of those temptations. Our faith is allowed to be TRIED to expose it's weakness.  When you 'try' something over and over to make sure of it's worthiness you are doing so for a very good reason.

The manufacturers of cars test them over and over and over and over extensively and they do that because they want to expose the defects, the weaknesses that may occur over time. They don't do that in order to just jot it down in a book somewhere, but they do it so they can CORRECT that defect before they send their products out. From time to time it's discovered that not all the defects were exposed under the trials, but the actual use revealed the defects.  But a lot more defects are discovered through the trials than we can imagine. It's not just with cars either, but with a lot of products we use all the time. Would you trust a toy with your child if you hadn't been assured that it'd been tested for safety?

The point here being that we are TRIED, we face a lot of temptations and rather than DESPISE these we must allow ourselves to LEARN from them as GOD would have us learn.

We will be tempted. Fiery darts of the wicked one will mercilessly rain down upon us and do so with intent of bringing us to a place of despair where we can't imagine forgiveness being an option, where we can't imagine our Savior ever wanting to save us.  We are allowed to suffer for so many reasons but NONE of those reasons involved God's pleasure at our distress, not a single bit.

The temptations we face will reveal to us our characters and we can look to our Bibles and know the character God would have us possess, have us 'Put On'.  If our characters do NOT match up to the character God desire to work IN US, then we have to kneel at the feet of our Savior and seek forgiveness, repentance, a willing heart to do HIS good pleasure, not ours!

We cannot just shrug off our defected characters with a - that's just who I am, end of story- because the story does NOT end there, not if you are a child of the King, not if you have Jesus as Your Savior! He wants to perfect us, HE WILL perfect us in His own way and we have to LET Him, not hinder Him.

When our tempers are exposed, we need to thank God for the revelation and seek His mercy and grace to keep from letting our tempers get out of control, and that goes for any defect in our characters. If temptation exposes our bad character traits we need to feel blessed, NOT defeated because we know our Savior is working IN US or else we would NEVER feel the prick of conscience for our defects. We will come face to face with the worst we possess and it is ONLY our SAVIOR who can change that, we cannot, but there is NOT IMPOSSIBLE to our GOD! NOTHING!

Just imagine the rigorous trying a child's safety seat must go through before it can be deemed safe, and then the next time you are confronted with a painful trial remember we are going through a trial even MORE rigorous than anything material in our world.

1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ

PRAISE GOD FOR HIS LOVE!

The trial of our faith- so we will be found unto our SAVIOR'S praise, our SAVIOR's honor, our SAVIOR's glory- ready for Him at HIS APPEARING!

Please LORD help us put on YOU and all YOU are! All you have revealed to us that YOU ARE. Help us LORD to let YOU WORK IN US! Please LORD, by YOUR GRACE, YOUR MERCY, YOUR LOVE ALWAYS IN ALL THINGS FOREVER AND EVER!

AMEN!

Jesus had a tempter

1Pe 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1Pe 1:4  To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5  Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1Pe 1:6  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
1Pe 1:8  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

*

I1Pe 1:6  …IN heaviness through MANIFOLD temptations.

Jas 1:14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Jas 1:15  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Heb 11:37  They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;

Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Heb 2:18  For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

1Co 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Luk 4:2  Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

*

Are you tempted?

How many people are caught up in sinful acts but do not consider themselves tempted because they welcome those acts.

How many sinful acts of ours are brought about through temptation?

Temptations comes when there is something we WANT.
Temptation doesn't come when there isn't something we want.
You aren't tempted to take an extra slice of coconut pie when you hate coconut.
You aren't tempted to get drunk on beer if you despise beer.
We are only tempted by the things we desire either blatantly or secretly, because we do try to hide our lusts even sometimes from ourselves- we pretend rather than confront and reveal, confess and repent.

Our lusts.

That sounds so… uhm…sexual but truthfully lust can be a lot more than sexual. You can lust after anything that exists.  Of course some would say that you'd never lust over some things, but you'd be surprised and disgusted by the things some people actually do lust after. 

We can take anything that is perfectly harmless and have it turn into a very harmful lust. Satan LOVES to take the innocent and pervert it to his ways, he thrives on doing that.

We are tempted.

And ALL too often we fall to that temptation.

We have a tempter.

We are TEMPTED.

There is NO getting around that. We are tempted and tempted by SOMETHING urging temptation upon us.

Our Savior was tempted and SINNED NOT!

He had a tempter!

We have a tempter, the SAME tempter that Jesus faced.

Those fiery darts we talk about are temptations as well as despair and all things evil.

You can have a painful dart of depression aimed right at you, or you can have the worst temptation to sin stabbed in your direction.

This is OUR reality.

Along with accepting the darkness of the reality we MUST accept the LIGHT of reality.

We have a SAVIOR. We have ONE who - yes - was tempted just like we are and HE PREVAILED!

HE PREVAILED!

He defeated the Tempter!

He never succumbed to Satan, not once! The love of the Father was strong enough to sustain Him through ALL the horrors of the Devil.

We too can prevail THROUGH our SAVIOR!

This is the ONLY way we prevail, there isn't one other single way!

By the grace of God may we PREVAIL through JESUS CHRIST OUR SAVIOR! ALL THROUGH HIM!

More tomorrow, as the LORD WILLS!

His Will Always!!!!!!!

In HIS LOVE.

Demons in the real world

Demons in the real world. 

There ARE demons in the real world, the world outside of books, movies, and television, the world outside of fiction.

Non-fiction demons.

It's true, it's factual but try and tell people this and you'll most likely get a squinty-eyed skeptical look, or perhaps one of those nods with that telling smile. You know what telling smile I'm talking about, the one that should a person look closely enough at they'd know they were victims of condescension. People might listen half-heartedly all the while they are internally shaking their head quite vehemently, not believing a word but letting you rattle on and on as you like simply because they know better than to try and argue with you. To argue with you would be quite pointless because you are set in your ways, in your beliefs, and refuse to listen to common sense. You take the Bible of all things and hold that up as your proof when the book is a mere fable mingled history of sorts. You take what Jesus, a God of the Bible, has to say and believe it to the exclusion of your very senses- you know those senses that clearly tell you (should you choose to listen to them) that demons are not at all real in any way, shape, or form. Sure, tell a fictional story about them, or even try in a fanciful way to convince people they're real, but we know you're just doing it because of the money, but DO NOT for one moment truly believe they are really, really, really, real. 

OR.

Yes, that is a big OR.  OR, if you do want to believe they're real do so in such a way it's more convenient to believe in them. You know, as harmless things, at best slight nuisances. Believe in them in a mere passing sort of way, do NOT try to make them common place and everyday happenings. Tell people you once saw a ghost, or that you can communicate with people on the other side on occasion. Tell them you believe to a point, but no more.  Surely do NOT tell them that you believe demons are surrounding all people at all times trying to seduce them spiritually into giving up on the truth, on the love of our Savior and His amazing sacrifice.  If you tell them that you WILL get that eye rolling, condescending smile with a nod and maybe even a light pat on the hand or forearm that shows a tenderness that doesn't really exist.

Demons in the real world, non-fiction demons have ONLY one purpose- to keep you from Christ and His truth, which in turn will keep you from eternal life, from salvation through Christ.

Demons KNOW that you won't turn into a spirit being upon death- you don't have that right because you are NOT just a spirit being as they are, you are flesh and blood as well, you are a creature called a human being, you are part of mankind, not angel kind. You will NOT turn into an angel upon death, they know this and it suits their purpose wonderfully to let you keep deceived upon that point. Demons WANT you to believe you turn into a spirit being upon death, they want you to believe in LIES, not in truth.  Demons know that you are NOT automatically guaranteed eternal life just because you appear to be a living angel of light crammed into human flesh. Demons KNOW that you will NOT get eternal life in any other way than to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and have His FAITH, His TESTIMONY, keeping HIS COMMANDMENTS.

Rev 12:17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The demons KNOW this and will do all in their power to keep you from being one of those remnant which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

You think you're guaranteed an afterlife, but you are not.

So many are deceived into believing they die and instantly are transported into a spiritual body that will either ascend or descend, but MOST believe in only ascension because NO ONE wants to truly believe they will ever descend.  Those who do believe they will descend and are caught up in making sure they do that will be awfully disappointed when they wake up from death's sleep to realize they are NOT going to live forever in any sort of hellish state.  They'll be punished as they deserve and no more, literally, they'll be no more after that punishment. They'll be no more them, forever and ever. If you're reading this right now be honest and ask yourself if you can ever really imagine there never being a you in existence on some level.  Because you ARE you believe you always will be somehow even if it is all a big mystery.  Or perhaps you do truly believe that everything ends at death and there is no more anything on any level after death. You too will be shocked when you are awakened after death's sleep only to find that you were wrong and must now live with that refuse of faith by suffering according to your unforgiven, unrepentant sins and ONLY then will your belief be realized and you will be NO MORE. But you'll be no more only after you are confronted fully with the FACT there was something more than everything stopping at death, and you refused it.

There will come a time when every single human being that has ever lived will know the truth and know where they accepted that truth or denied it. There truly will be a lot of gnashing of teeth and upset at that point, and a lot of tears because it'll all be too late and while they'll want to instantly place blame somewhere else to see if they can't get a reprieve, they'll be made to see very, very, very clearly every single opportunity they had to believe and how they rejected all of those opportunities.  

It is often only when a thief is caught that they are repentant, not for what they've done so much, but over having been caught. It'll be true for ALL who have rejected the truth in Christ, they'll feel that awful repentance but only because they got caught not believing, not because they truly have a love for Jesus and all He's done for them. They would NOT be happy in eternity, and there will be NO eternity for those who choose sin over Jesus.

Demons love lies, they love deception and all around us the world is FILLED with a lot of deception so much so it would be impossible to number the deceptions.

Demons will stop at nothing to deceive.

These spiritual creatures are living around us but they are not without spiritual enemies working to thwart their evil.  There are 2/3rds more spiritual creatures that belong to GOD and these work just as hard to bring every opportunity to all people everywhere to find and believe in the truth of salvation through Jesus Christ our LORD. 

The trouble here is the same as it was for Eve and Adam in the beginning.  They chose to believe a lie rather than the truth. And once we choose to believe a lie and continue in that lie we are shutting out the truth that God's spiritual creatures would reveal to us. We are building a wall around ourselves. We are putting on blinders that we would hate to take off because the light of the truth is so incredibly revealing.  That truth will reveal our true state of NOTHINGNESS without God. We are NOTHING without God, NOTHING! And we don't want to believe in ourselves as nothing beings.  We would much rather wear the blinders that allow us to believe we are something, even if it is only the tiniest of somethings, that's all it takes to keep from the truth.

People will continue to CHOOSE to believe the lies that make them feel most comfortable within themselves. The lie of total unbelief in any God or Jesus. The lie of believing in a Santa Claus-like God. The lie of believing in their own goodness. The lies people choose are endless and easily supplied by all the demons living around us. 

If you think you've never been influenced by a demon, think again. Just ask yourself if you've ever done anything at all in your entire life that you couldn't believe you did. Seriously, has there ever been even a small something or other that you couldn't believe you did? Perhaps it was something you said.  It doesn't matter what it was, what matters is that demons love to whisper in our ears and if you think they cannot whisper their evil at us think again- they can even live inside of us if circumstances allow. What those circumstance are I'm not entirely sure, but I know for a fact that demons can even possess children and it doesn't have to be the full blown spin your head around and spew filthy both verbal and that of the vomit sort. Not all demons possession is characterized by the wild men in the cemetery.

Mat 8:28  And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

Some demon possession as noted yesterday effected young people by making them fall down and thrash about- such as one with epilepsy.  Do you think the father of that young man would have even dared bring him about crowds if he were likely to be violent towards everyone around him? No.

Demons are real and the next time you are involved in an argument NO matter how seemingly justified it is, you can be assured the demons are surrounding you and urging you on to say hurtful things- even if they are true- the demons want you to show a spirit of dissension not love. 

I am serious, just in case you were wondering, very, very serious about ALL of this.

I wholeheartedly believe that demons use all the influence they can over us to get us to sin, to keep us from God, from the LOVE found ONLY IN JESUS CHRIST!

Satan himself tempted Jesus in the wilderness, but you can be assured Satan did NOT stop trying to influence Jesus right up until His very last breath.

So go ahead and choose not to believe in the reality of demons, but if you choose that path just remember you are choosing to NOT believe in the Word of JESUS Himself.  And if you are choosing not to believe in the Word of Your Savior, you must be choosing to believe in the word of the Savior's enemy- Satan.  Think about it please, and more importantly, PRAY about it all!!!!!!!

Pray, pray, pray! Communicate with GOD, He will help you, He will help us all find HIS truth and ONLY HIS TRUTH if we are sincerely desiring to find it all. And if we're not even sure if we are sincere, pray to be given that sincerity all the while comprehending how truly WORTHLESS we are, and the WORTH we need to have is ONLY found outside of ourselves in CHRIST!

All through HIS GRACE, HIS LOVE, HIS MERCY, HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, ALL THROUGH HIM IN ALL THINGS!

AMEN!

Unclean Spirits

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  (KJV)

Eph 6:12  For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world–rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.  (RV- Revised Version)

Eph 6:12  We are not fighting against humans. We are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness and powers in the spiritual world.  (CEV - Contemporary English Version)

Eph 6:12  because we have not the wrestling with blood and flesh, but with the principalities, with the authorities, with the world-rulers of the darkness of this age, with the spiritual things of the evil in the heavenly places (YLT- 1898 Young's Literal Translation)

The Spiritual battle is real.
Evil is real.

I read an article recently where a woman wrote about demons as if they were real- guess what- they ARE real. It seemed a little odd though to be reading someone say something along these lines: 

"Demons love it when we lie."

"Demons feast off our sinning."

Are they true statements? The Bible tells us that Satan is the father of lies, and emphasizes that being a liar is a really bad thing, so if we believe that evil angels (demons) follow in the footsteps of their leader Satan then yes, I imagine it's true that demons love when we lie.  Do demons feast off our sinning? I don't know for a fact they feast in the sense that we imagine feasting, but we do know the Bible tells us this-

Mat 12:43  When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Mat 12:44  Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
Mat 12:45  Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

Jesus Himself is talking about unclean spirits and why not, He cast out unclean spirits, he cast out demons and LOTS of them.  They were VERY real to Jesus and He recognized them as the enemy of mankind.

An unclean spirit, an evil angel, a fallen angel, an evil spirit being inside a man.
Taken out of a man that spirit is walking in DRY places.
And here's a point that seems moot when we know that angelic beings - evil and good - have no need of rest.  But it's not moot because nothing Jesus says is. The unclean spirit is seeking rest and finds none. This cast out unclean spirit was used to living inside a man and once cast out the life of that unclean spirit has altered, there is a void that cannot be filled. So this unclean spirit returns to the man he was cast out of and finds it better than it was when he'd occupied it before so not ONLY does he return but he take seven more unclean spirits, spirits more wicked than him and they ALL entered into that man to live.

Now this is a parable, Jesus spoke a lot in parables and this is no different.

The parable of the wicked people of Israel who only make a show of repentance but never fully repent and ultimately their rejection of the TRUTH of God leads them to an evil more wicked state than ever. 

This parable does NOT negate that fact that real unclean spirits exist, just as the parable of the fig tree doesn't speak as if the fig tree isn't real.

Just reading the following tells us that Jesus believed in REAL unclean spirit beings--

Mar_5:8  For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.

Do you think it's possible for a person to be cleaned of unclean spirits and then receive them back again at a later date?  I do.

Read the following--

Mar 9:17  And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;
Mar 9:18  And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.
Mar 9:19  He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.
Mar 9:20  And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
Mar 9:21  And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.
Mar 9:22  And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
Mar 9:23  Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Mar 9:24  And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
Mar 9:25  When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.

Jesus - REBUKED the foul spirit- saying unto that SPIRIT- Thou DUMB and DEAF spirit, I charge thee COME OUT OF HIM and ENTER NO MORE INTO HIM.

Would Jesus have had to say- 'and enter no more into him', if it were not possible for unclean spirits to come and go from a person? No, He would not have had to say that.  This deaf, dumb spirit was being PERMANENTLY EJECTED from this young man.  'Enter no more into him.'  That young man would never, ever be bothered by that unclean spirit again. The unclean spirit was not destroyed, he was ejected.

People love to say the boy was probably just suffering from epilepsy and in the dark ages etc they used to believe that people had unclean spirits, demons in them but the truth is they had a medical condition that is easily treated nowadays with medicine.  It is true that there was a time when people believed a lot of medical conditions treated today were caused by demons and they tortured and killed those people believing they were in league with the devil- they had to be if the devil was inside them.  People in the time of Jesus did NOT torture and kill those who were possessed. We read more than this one account of demons inside people who were obviously allowed to live as normal a life as possible, not tortured. They were victims and recognized as such.  Jesus came and HEALED the physically, mentally, and spiritually sick. Jesus knew when a condition was caused by an unclean spirit and when it wasn't.

Luk 8:43  And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,
Luk 8:44  Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.
Luk 8:45  And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
Luk 8:46  And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.
Luk 8:47  And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately.
Luk 8:48  And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.

Did Jesus cast an unclean spirit out of this woman? No. But she was healed.

Mat 11:5  The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

Mat_12:22  Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw

Mar 8:22  And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.
Mar 8:23  And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.
Mar 8:24  And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.
Mar 8:25  After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.

Not every healing was the result of a cast out unclean spirit.

But there was healing when unclean spirits were cast out, because those unclean spirit COULD cause illnesses. Simply because we have a disease that mimics the symptoms of demon possession does NOT negate possession.

One blind and mute man could be so as a result of a demon, another blind and mute for other reasons. To say all have to be the same would be ridiculous.

Read this--

Joh 9:1  And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
Joh 9:2  And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
Joh 9:3  Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
Joh 9:4  I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
Joh 9:5  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
Joh 9:6  When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
Joh 9:7  And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

Illnesses and medical conditions are not always the result of someone's sin, yet they can be.

Exo_20:5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me

This CAN happen, but it isn't something that would automatically happen, just as Jesus said.

Satan wants us deceived at all costs, this is his desire for every human being, deceived.

Demon possession is real.

Demons- evil angels-  love lies and all sins.

God alone can protect us, He is our ARMOR against all the fiery darts.

More tomorrow by the GRACE of GOD!!!!!!!