God... or Satan?

'Ultimately, when we touch the things of the world, the question we must ask ourselves always is : "How is this thing affecting my relationship with the Father?" '

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 

I found the above quote from Watchman Nee's 'Love Not the World' book interesting. Do we question ourselves enough? Do we ask ourselves often how the things we do affect our relationship with God? Right now think back over your day and the things you've done. Was God with you in all those things? God is supposed to be with us always, there is never a time where we can set God aside and then pick Him up again. We have a relationship with God through the Son, and all we do will affect that relationship in one way or another- positively, or negatively.  If we can think of things we've done that affected our relationship negatively we need to repent of those things, not continue on in them. We need to seek guidance, to seek help to live the life God would have us live. We need to pay attention to our relationship with God, always.

'When we are faced with alternatives and a choice of ways confronts us, the question is not: Is this good or evil? Is this helpful or hurtful? No, the question we must ask ourselves is: Is it of this world, or of God? For since there is only this one conflict in the universe, then whenever two conflicting courses lie open to us, the choice at issue is never a lesser one than: God …or Satan?'

Do we think of our choices this way? Seriously, do we? We need to! We need to face the truth! We have to stop sugar-coating life so that we cover the things of Satan in something acceptable to us. Calling evil things good has become common place. Truly, there are so many things that are evil but we call them good simply because we don't want to believe they are of Satan. God or Satan these are the only two choices we face. God or Satan, we can't be afraid to ask ourselves which we are choosing. Heaven help us, God help us. The world surrounding us is filled with so much evil, so much deception, so much of Satan. The narrow way is the way we would choose, please LORD, please help us to this end. 

By the will of our LORD, through Jesus Christ our Savior, now and forever!!!!!!!

Love Not the World.

I'm re-reading a book by Watchman Nee called 'Love Not the World'.

So far in the beginning of the book he writes about in the beginning our existence there was the earth, after sin there was the world, and when the world is eventually redeemed it will be with the Kingdom.  I found that very interesting.

We know from previous studies that this world and its current kingdoms belong to Satan. He offered them to Christ when he was tempting Him. You can't offer something that doesn't belong to you. Satan is the Prince of this world, he rules this world. Satan so ruled this world in the days of Noah prior to the flood that things were beyond saving, the entire world had to be redone, a do-over had to take place. And then… Noah, the very man God saved because he found grace in the eyes of God, planted vineyards in the newly made over earth and used the wine from those vineyards to get drunk. And so once again mankind continued their descent into a fully corrupt world where only a handful out of the majority would be those who would choose God over the world- but not without many hiccups. The world has so many enticements and we are so very weak.

We are to LOVE NOT the world.

We are to LOVE NOT the things that are in the world.

ALL that is in the world-

-the lust of the flesh

-the lust of the eyes

-the pride of life

IS NOT of the Father.

The world will PASS away with all its lusts.

Doing the WILL Of God brings ABIDENCE, brings LIFE EVERLASTING.

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 

1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 

1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 

Watchman Nee has a lot of good things to say about all this and by the will of God I will be able to relay some of them here as I continue to read the book and study God's holy word.

God should be EXALTED above all, His Will Be Done Now and Forever!

All through the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ!!!!!!!

Christ Tendencies.

Mat 7:12  Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. 

Jesus said…

How we would like to be treated by others is how we should treat others.

Jesus did not say…

If someone wrongs you make sure you wrong them in return, or at the very least snub them and no longer like them.

We have a mindset that tells us to dislike those who treat us in ways we don't want them to. And that mindset will often refuse to allow us to even entertain the idea of doing good towards someone we dislike, someone who has wronged us. And if we do allow ourselves to be nice to the one who wronged us, often we do so with the intention of getting revenge upon them at a later date and they'll never see it coming. Or, we might not be seeking revenge but we tell ourselves we'll be the better person and treat them nicely- giving ourselves a huge pat on the back and maybe a quick shoulder squeeze to congratulate ourselves on being such a superior, better human being than the one who wronged us. We place ourselves up on a pedestal not realizing it's made of Satan's pride.

Truthfully. We have all wronged others in one way or another. We all give others reasons to dislike us. I'm not saying all others or all the time, but not a single one of us has gone through life without upsetting someone. We've made friends and enemies. Some people make enemies simply by the way they look, or the way their personality rubs someone the wrong way. Through no extenuating fault of their own they instantly raise the hackles of someone else.

Christ would have us not look at all upon how others treat us- whether they like us or they don't. Christ would have us only focus on how we are treating others.

How do you treat other people?

Right now with the pandemic underway it's easy for us to snub others because we are being ordered by our government to keep away from people. Did you know you can still smile at someone else when you are six feet away from them? You can imagine others around you have the cooties and are crawling with microscopic bugs and still smile and treat them with respect.

Setting aside the newly accepted pandemic snub, how do you normally treat others?  Do you ALWAYS treat them like you would want them to treat you- with kindness and respect?  If you don't I'm sure you could give me a list of many reasons why they don't deserve your kindness and respect- they cut you off in traffic, they swore at you, the ignored you as you waited to be served by them, they gave you a dirty look, they called you a name, they laughed at you, they flirted with your husband/wife, they were impatient with you.  We expect to be treated in certain ways while dealing with the people around us and when they fall short of our expectations we feel slighted, justifiably so. Yet, Christ doesn't want us to feel slighted, to feel hurt, to feel offended, He wants us to react contrary to what seems natural to us. He wants us to love as He loves.

If we are being completely honest with ourselves then we'd comprehend that the perfect, only begotten Son of God, more than any other human being who ever lived had the right to feel offended by so many who treated Him wrongly. He had the right to condemn those who had just put the nails in his hands, but instead He said this…

Luk_23:34  Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.

And even if those soldiers had jumped up and yelled that they knew exactly what they were doing, Jesus knew that their eyes had been blinded by the evil one's influence, and they really did not comprehend what they had done.  Forgive them.

Forgive them.

Forgive them.

Forgive.

We do not forgive those who have nailed our hands to our perceived crosses. We take their actions and file them away neatly in a mental drawer to be remembered and fawned over at our will. We go through the stack and repeat offenders have a pile of noted offenses towards us. We clump groups together, and all those idiotic other drivers deserve my wrath as if they were all those who ever drove offensively around me. The server deserves the scorn of all those other servers through my life that have slighted me in anyway. We wear our cloaks of derision proudly, when we should feel shame to even possess such a cloak.

Forgive them.

How do you want Jesus to forgive you?  Do you want Him to mouth the words and yet treat you as being unforgiven? Do you want Him to say He forgives you but will never ever stop feeling the pain of how you treated Him?  Jesus' blood was spilled to cover our sins, blotting them out completely and one day blotting them out so that we never ever committed them- they are that gone. We need to strive in our very imperfect way to forgive as we want to be forgiven. We most certainly do not want to be forgiven in such a way our sins are forever held in front of us taunting us even silently, and some of the loudest taunts can be silent ones while screaming at us inside. It can be exhausting in so many ways to have our sins surround us. We need the peace that only Christ can give us with His assurance to forgive us, to cleanse us, to renew us, to make us free indeed. We need to believe in Christ's love, in His sacrifice, and the power of His blood. We don't deserve it, just as we may believe others don't deserve such forgiveness from us, but we are offered Christ's love and all that means just the same- undeservedly.

Let us treat others as we want to be treated no matter how often they knock us down- mentally, emotionally, and even physically (though I'm no advocate of staying in abusive life threatening relationships). Let us love as Christ loves. Let us forgive as we would be forgiven. Let us let the Holy Spirit live in us to do the work of God through us. When our natural tendency is to be hurt, spiteful, any number of seemingly justified ways, let us seek Christ's tendencies, not our own. May we let Christ live in us, our hope!

All by the grace and love of our Savior, through His will now and forever! Amen!!!!!!!

Lead Me In the Way Everlasting!

Do we want God to search our hearts?

Do we want God to try us?

Do we want God to know our thoughts?

These are questions we need to ask ourselves. If you readily answered yes to all three questions that's amazing. If you hesitated on any of them perhaps it was because you know the wickedness of your own heart, of your own spiritual weakness, of your own thoughts. When we recognize the wickedness in ourselves the tendency we have is to want to deny its existence. When we deny something we are often pretending it doesn't exist, right? Not always, but have you ever had anyone point out something about your personality that you didn't like and simply refused to acknowledge? Close examination may reveal the truth of their statement about us. There is the chance the person is wrong too, not everyone is right. Have you ever heard the statement- you protest too much? Meaning the more a person protests the more something might me true that they are denying.  Recognizing our wickedness is necessary, it's truthful.

Is your heart pure? Most likely not. Do you want it to be pure? Prayerfully, yes.

Do you like when you recognize God trying you and your faith? The trying often involves trials and tribulations, things we don't like to experience. The answer to that question is probably, no because who likes to experience trials and tribulations? But at the same time you may want to be tried by God because you do in fact want to be God's.

Contemplate your thoughts, are they worthy of God? Too often our thoughts are not on things of God. Too often we know selfishness fills our minds and out of that selfishness we don't think pleasant things. Silent anger, resentment, possibly fear, self-pity all these can go on in our minds.

We recognize our wickedness in the light of God's purity and we need this.

Psa 139:23  Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 

Psa 139:24  And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. 

We need God to search the depths of our hearts so that not a single part of our heart goes unsearched. We need Him to search our hearts no matter how evil we believe they are, in fact we need His searching all the more if we are convinced of the evil wickedness of our hearts. God's searching isn't a mindless search, we want His searching our hearts for a reason. We want God to try us and know our thoughts because NOT to have God trying us would mean we are not being perfected by Him. To not want God in our lives knowing our every thought has to say something about us, and probably something we wouldn't like to realize.

SEARCH ME O GOD, KNOW MY HEART!

TRY ME O GOD, KNOW MY THOUGHTS!

SEE IF THERE IS ANY WICKEDNESS IN ME!

LEAD ME IN THE WAY EVERLASTING!

This is my plea, my prayer, my hope, my desire! Lead in the way…everlasting!

Praise God, Always!

Hear my cry O God.  How many of us have said these exact words? Our cries to God are very real and we cry to God because we recognize our creaturehood. We seek to a source higher than ourselves, a supreme source, an eternal source. We comprehend our need of God. We know of His infinite state even as we look upon our temporary state.  Our God has reached out to us offering us an infinite state through Him. Truly we are born into a state of temporary flesh and not to an eventual, inevitable non-existence. We are born with possibility. We are born with hope. This possibility, this hope is found only in our God.

We ask God to hear our cries, just as a child cries out to a parent seeking the wisdom of one who is wiser, older, and loving towards us. If you are shaking your head and saying you never had a parent you could count on, it's a sad truth that a lot of people don't have that example, however they KNOW the parent figure they long for can and does exist for some, if not them.

We ask God to hear our cries, to listen to our prayers. We desire God's attention to be towards us. Hear us, listen to us, we need You God.

Psa 61:1  To the chief Musician upon Neginah, A Psalm of David. Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. 

No matter where we are, we will cry to God.

When our hearts are overwhelmed- and they will be overwhelmed we cry to God. Satan's constant work is to overwhelm our hearts. But when our hearts are overwhelmed we cry to  God and ask Him to LEAD us to the ROCK that is higher than we are.

Psa 61:2  From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. 

The vision of a rock of safety, a surety, a solid foundation, a safe place this is where we long to be led to.  Christ is our Rock.

1Co_10:4  And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

Upon the Rock that IS Christ all of us seek to find shelter. Christ built the foundation of His followers upon Himself- the only sure foundation. We desire to be led to the rock that is higher than ourselves, the rock of safety only found in Christ.

God is a shelter for us, a strong tower from our enemies- and this does not always mean we are living in comfort and free of a tortured existence. It means God is our spiritual safety, our eternal existence is kept in God and no enemy can ever take that from us, none.

Psa 61:3  For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. 

David cried out to God that he would live in God's tabernacle forever, and trust in the cover of God's wings. We too desire this! To live with God forever, to trust in God's protection of ourselves.

Psa 61:4  I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah. 

Psa 61:5  For thou, O God, hast heard my vows: thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name. 

God will hear our vows. The vows of our lives is our promise to live for God and follow His ways. Our vows to God are vows of submission to God's will knowing it is now and forever a will of love. There is a reason we have so many tales of good vs. evil with good winning in the end, it's because this is how it will be. No, I'm not stupid enough to say all our tales have happy endings, as Satan's grip tightened around the hearts of the many more and more happy endings are elusive in our stories. Yet there are classics whose endings our hearts rise to cheer when the evil is defeated. Reality will be such a tale, and we need to vow to be standing with God, fighting for God, living for God.

Psa 61:6  Thou wilt prolong the king's life: and his years as many generations. 

Psa 61:7  He shall abide before God for ever: O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him. 

Our lives are in God's hands- whether we will live to an old age, or die young. Most of us dread the thought of dying young and take great pains to do all we can to live to an old age, a healthy old age.  We need to abide before God forever, never wanting a life where we are not living before God, in His presence! We need God to grant us mercy and all truth - the very things that will save us. We look to our source of life now and life everlasting.

Psa 61:8  So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows. 

Let us SING PRAISE to God's name always! Don't let a day go by where we aren't singing praise to God. Sure, you may not be able to carry a tune, or perhaps you are mute, or temporarily have no voice, but our hearts can sing praise! Our thoughts can sing praise and God knows our thoughts.

1Ch_28:9  … for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts

This is our prayer always!

Psa 139:23  Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 

Psa 139:24  And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. 

Let us sing praise to God always, daily as we seek to live our lives for Him, as being His. Let our praises ring high whether they are silent praise, or the loudest praise. If our silent praise comes from a heart of sincerity, it can even be louder in God's ears than the loudest spoken praise from a heart of vanity. Let our PRAISE be sung to God daily now and always as long as we breathe so we can direct our lives to the God we vow to serve!

All through HIS LOVE, HIS MERCY, HIS GRACE, HIS POWER, HIS HONOR, all through HIM!

In the name of our LORD and SAVIOR we pray!  Let us be Yours known by You Lord Jesus Christ! Now and forever!!!!!!!

Daily Vows-Daily Praise.

Psa_61:8  So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows.

'How Can I Keep From Singing' (Chris Tomlin)

There is an endless song

Echoes in my soul

I hear the music ring

And though the storms may come

I am holding on

To the rock I cling

How can I keep from singing Your praise

How can I ever say enough

How amazing is Your love

How can I keep from shouting Your name

I know I am loved by the King

And it makes my heart want to sing

I will lift my eyes

In the darkest night

For I know my Savior lives

And I will walk with You

Knowing You'll see me through

And sing the songs You give

I can sing in the troubled times

Sing when I win

I can sing when I lose my step

And fall…

How can I keep from singing Your praise

How can I ever say enough

How amazing is Your love

How can I keep from shouting Your name

I know I am loved by the King

And it makes my heart want to sing

Psa 146:2  While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. 

Psa 61:1  To the chief Musician upon Neginah, A Psalm of David. Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. 

Psa 61:2  From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. 

Psa 61:3  For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. 

Psa 61:4  I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah. 

Psa 61:5  For thou, O God, hast heard my vows: thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name. 

Psa 61:6  Thou wilt prolong the king's life: and his years as many generations. 

Psa 61:7  He shall abide before God for ever: O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him. 

Psa 61:8  So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows. 

Christ- My Hope.

Luk 18:13 … God be merciful to me a sinner. 

The revelation of having played a part in the horrors of another's life is heartbreaking. However inadvertently, however unintentional, the mere fact a failing in yourself created heartbreak and emotional, mental anguish that will  never go away for someone is awful. Actually, it's beyond awful, I don't think words exists for the awfulness it truly is.

Throughout life there are many wrongs done to others, many wrongs we do ourselves and the bottom line truly is- Satan wants to destroy us in any way he possibly can and will stop at nothing to do so. He will exploit every weakness we may possess even the tiniest flaw will open us to his manipulation. He's been manipulating humans from the beginning and knows every single thing he can do to get us to a place of despair, a place of apathy, a place of anger and hurt. Once we are safely tucked into our despair and allow Satan to rule our lives, he keeps his eye on us and will constantly update his strategies. Satan does not want us to be free of guilt. Satan wants guilt to eat away at us. Satan wants the unjust wrongs committed against us to be enough to blind us to any true love found in Christ. Satan wants anger alive in us being fed off the memories of the pain and he will remind us often of that pain, magnifying it constantly. Satan does not want us to be free from guilt and he will use our past failures against us. Satan does not want us to be free from our comfortable robes of self-righteousness, of self-justification. Satan wants to cripple us as either victims or criminals, he has both scenarios locked down tight and uses them all the time, and sometimes he will use both, often he will use both on the same person.  You are guilty, he shouts all the while whispering, you're only guilty because you were unjustly victimized yourself. This vicious circle of Satan's is alive and well- living in many people. Don't get me wrong, I know there is more than one vicious circle, he has millions and millions of them each tailor made for us individually.

I am…

Victim.

Criminal.

Hurt.

Hurt Inflictor. 

Guiltless.

Guilty.

Not condemned.

Condemned.

I'm all of these things.

Forgiving.

Forgiven.

I need to forgive and all that means. When I forgive it never makes the wrong right. When Jesus forgives us it doesn't make our past actions right, it acknowledges the past actions are wrong but allows us to still be loved.  The power of salvation will ultimately be the power of Christ's sinless sacrifice creating a new heart, a new life, a new me- in spite of all the sins of my past. This is the power of God, a power God would have us comprehend as fully as we can in our relationship with others. As victims we are asked to forgive as He forgives. As criminals we are asked to seek forgiveness, repenting of our sins depending solely on Christ to forgive us.

I'm guilty, I've failed in many ways. I've been the cause of pain for others. I can't go back in time and change things, I can only pray unendingly that God heals those I've had a hand in hurting-intentional or not. I can only trust that God will use all things for good towards the end of salvation in Christ, our eternal hope. I can only look forward to the new world, a world without sin and all its many horrors. I can only pray and hope that all the victims of my sins are in God's safekeeping, that they will belong to Him and His love and live with Christ always in eternity, rising to meet the Lord in the air upon His return. I hope… my hope is Christ, Christ who alone has DEFEATED Satan.

Php 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 

Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 

Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 

Php 3:15  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. 

Php 3:16  Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. 

Php 3:17  Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. 

Php 3:18  (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 

Php 3:19  Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) 

Php 3:20  For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 

Php 3:21  Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.