Hello Everyone, Just wanted to say that I feel a renewed spirit in my heart, as we all have grieved the loss of our Pastor and Brother in Christ, David Meyer. I am always in awe when God lets us see his hand in events as we pass thru this world. I have had a trial of my own this year aside from the loss we all have shared. It was a sobering thing to see that where I was standing was not where I perceived. I was reminded by the Lord how he gently speaks to us, to walk after him.
Psa 95:6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
Psa 95:7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,
Psa 95:8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
Psa 95:9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
Psa 95:10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:
Psa 95:11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
1Sa 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
If we even slightly push aside the voice of the Holy Ghost in our hearts, it is the same exact provocation God is referring to as the verse above and the generation he refers to that tested him. If we see any circumstance that is the same in front of us as in the bible, the Word applies. And it just so happens God Almighty covered every possible eventuality in his instructions to us through his Holy Word. Disciple means one under discipline.So we must receive this discipline and correction with great zeal as God says this is the proof we are sons of God and not bastards lost in the world. Sin blinds the mind and even the subtlest of backsliding, or taking our ease as it were, can lead us over time to be a long ways of track, and we will not realize it until he gives us repentance. Even though this following verse is addressing how to share the truth, we ourselves if we have unrepentant sin or we sit back and take our ease with the knowledge of our salvation, can find ourselves in a position of again being ensnared in sin and find ourselves having to repent from dead works. Something we are also admonished to cease from doing by Paul for the LORD.
2Ti 2:24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
2Ti 2:25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
2Ti 2:26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
If we find ourselves in sin we are opposed to the truth in some area as a man speaks from the abundance of his heart, and his words lead to actions. Thinking sinful thoughts, saying sinful things, doing sinful deeds. This is the progression that starts with one thought not brought into obedience in Jesus Christ. This is a real time in the present tense process of vigilance over our thoughts. I should probably add that this is the battle ground where we fight to subdue our flesh and die so that Christ may be formed within us. Sin repented of and forsaken is a step closer in the process of becoming 100% submitted to God in our hearts. I know I wanted to believe I was completely serving God. However I know that many of us have received correction from our Lord recently through the shared trial of losing our Pastor. I had been slacking in my service to him and I became acutely aware of the need to come to a deeper repentance. The truth is when I examined myself, I did know it, I had ignored the Lord's many quiet warnings to repent. Instead I listened to my flesh complain that it did not feel good, so I continued to depend on man to comfort me in areas of discomfort in my flesh, rather then to let go. I did in past times attempt to repent of this, however it always seemed to find a way to creep, and I mean creep, back in. This has been one of my big mountains that I need to command to be thou removed, and cast into the sea by Jesus Christ,never to be remembered. We must face our hearts with faith and humility by the Word of God and come to a complete repentance.
All of us need to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. The danger I have seen in myself is from the pride of knowledge. I do not mean a conscious thought of how wonderful I am or how much I know. I am talking about a very subtle shift in how we listen to others. Do we always listen in the spirit? Do we pause, and look to the Lord even though we think we know the answer to a question? Can we walk carnally minded but answer and sound as though we are spiritual? As we are all living epistles, known and read of all mean, and have been given the knowledge of how the universe is governed by our Father, The Lord Jesus Christ. We are often given opportunities to explain doctrine to those Christians who may need what we have from the Lord. I feel we are all vulnerable to this snare as we are in the time of midnight, the darkest of spiritual hours. We are warned against the snare of what knowledge can do. I have found that the warning given us about this to be crucial in understanding how knowledge "puffeth up"
1Co 8:1 Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
You can see it says puff ETH up. This ETH in the middle English as we have learned, signifies an on going condition in the present tense. As we learn and grow we need to be temperate and not rush to answer. If the answer is plain and we see it immediately, then lets always in that moment pause for a second and thank the Lord for the understanding we have to share and remember to minister from the point of our own faults. The Lord says We are known for we have love for one another. Lets not forget that its out of love that we even have to reprove, and lets keep our flesh in subjection by bringing every thought into obedience to Jesus Christ, and bring down any thoughts or imaginations that would exalt themselves against, in other words, thoughts that lie against the truth. Now this might sound elementary to some who are secure to the peace of the Holy Ghost, but many struggling for deliverance from sin need to know their thoughts will lie to them as Satan will attempt throw his voice to make it seem as though it is your own thought voice. One time in my past as I was seeking deliverance from drugs, the devil told me while I was under the influence, that the way to get off drugs is to get some more, so you can slowly stop. Notice his plan was to GET MORE, and when it comes to sin this his his desire. Had God not shown me that, that thought would have raced right by and gone into my heart as acceptable to me. It is in this split second we must bring every thought into captivity by the Word of God. If we minister from what we remember and know as truth apart from looking to Jesus Christ by faith in that precise moment for what to say, are we truly speaking the oracles of God? We speak the oracles of God when the Holy Ghost gives us utterance. Mar 13:11 But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.
This verse is a wonderful instruction on how to deal with the arrows fired at us each day as we strive to walk on the Word by faith. We only have to remain humble before the Lord's thrown in our hearts, as we are the temple of God and his thrown is in his people. His train fills the temple.
Isa 6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
We, as God's children have an abundance of knowledge and wisdom residing in our minds, and yet we only have to keep our minds stayed on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ continually, and he will call all things to remembrance, even what we should say as we stand before his thrown in faith. Joh 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
The above verse also says "but charity edifieth". If we truly love God with our whole heart, and we love each other as we love ourselves, then pride cannot enter into our hearts and our love for others and our humble service to one another are protections against the pride of knowledge. I believe this is saying that if we are so busy meeting the needs of those around us in Christ, we will be protected. As it turns out the temptation that came to me, came at a point when after a tough trial, A year or more ago, I allowed myself to shift in my thinking and became concerned for myself. This I believe was the first step in backsliding. Taking our eyes of the Lord to look at ourselves, is as destructive as taking our eyes off of him and looking at the world. As soon as I pulled back from my duties I was in sin. I didnt realize it at the time, but that is not an excuse. The Lord reproves us at a rate that we can handle, so if we begin to derail this process with our own will,the Lord does not go on break and say well, guess we will work on this later, he wants to go play. Not only do we not move forward, we retake the test until we pass. This is our wandering in the desert 40 years. The danger for us as Christian's, is when sin sneaks up on us, and sets up camp in our hearts, or is an existing stronghold of Satan yet to be removed that we are tollerating. All sin comes from the lust if the flesh, lust of the eyes, the pride of life. How easy it it to become irritated with others in the flesh and forget in the moment that only by his grace do we live and breath, and we having been forgiven of so much, need to walk in constant gratitude before our God.
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Thanks to all who have poured out their hearts and encouraged us in our efforts on paltalk to share the truth in the vast darkness of the world wide WEB. Grace and peace in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
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