Know The Spirit That Influences!

Now the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared. They forbid marriage and demand abstinence from foods that God created to be received with gratitude by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing should be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, since it is sanctified by the word of God and by prayer. I Timothy 4:1-5 HCSB

If we know that Satan's job is to influence others in stealing, killing, and destroying, encouraging lying since he is the father of liars, and manipulating deception, why are we surprised by anything that happens in the world?

There are two reigning spirits in our atmosphere: Holy Spirit who speaks to our hearts when He resides within and Satan--who speaks to the mind, causing flesh to react to external forces.
Holy Spirit will only speak those things to our hearts which we have learned of God and in living according to God's Word, reminding us that it's all about Jesus!

Satan will tell people to do whatever feels good to you. It's all about you!
Holy Spirit speaks truth as He leads us to living peacefully among all people, doing all things decently and in order.

Satan is the master of confusion and chaos and he is only concerned with the destruction of mankind.
If we're honest with ourselves--willing to take a good look in the mirror, shedding the scales that blind us to truth--we'll see which spirit influences everything we think, say, and do. Once we can see truth about self, we can look at others and see truth about them as well, but until we are able to see and accept truth about self--we will never see truth about others.

This is why we have so many people confused about who the best person is to sit in the White House. When people can support bigotry, hatred, racism, and narcissism in a candidate, they are actually saying those character traits reside in them.

There is no perfect candidate in this election year, but we can seek God and allow His Spirit to direct us in all things and we know--because we know who He is and how He operates, that He will only direct us to the person who is more likely to be living according to His Word--full of compassion and love for all people.

When we begin to understand The Word of God is intended to be a blueprint by which we live, and apply it to our lives on a daily basis, we will see the benefits of living according to The Word. The bible is not just some ancient book of myths as Satan has some believing; it is clear instructions for living a Godly life, a life in which one can expect peace and harmony, and enjoy life while here on earth. When we know God--we know love; when we know love, we will not entertain thoughts of destruction or hate. Mankind is God's most precious creation and Satan hates us with everything in him and will influence the vulnerable and weak-minded into thinking there is no God of creation, and people can do whatever they want to do.

Remember--Satan is the liar--the influence behind all destruction and confusion, hate and bigotry.
Now, who is influencing what you think, say, and do?

Of All the gods, You Alone are God!

"Among the gods there is none like you, Lord; no deeds can compare with yours. All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord; they will bring glory to your name. For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God." (Psalm 86:8-10 NIV)

Up in the hills, deep into the trees,
On the altars of ignorance were burned,
Wood, animals, children, as stomachs turned,
Making idol sacrifices instead of bending knees,
Praying to the One True God, who does marvelous deeds.

From the beginning and still now, people exercise the inherent desire to worship something and when they find something they think works, that thing they will worship, forgetting that there is One God who created all things and without Him, nothing was created.

Before we had the means to explore and examine our environment, we attributed events to certain other "circumstances" giving credit to the sun god, the rain god, the fertility god, the garden god, the angry god, the happy god, the moon god, the good luck god, the bad luck god, the pretty god, the ugly god, the god of hair, the god of baldness, the god of the fat people, the god of the skinny people, the water gods, the fire gods--and I'm sure there are many more like "the lottery god" (dream books), but all of these gods are manifested into carved, shaped, molded things that are made by the hands of man. Every symbol and image that people use to worship and give some magical attribute-- (by way of explaining events) was made by man or machines in our times. Now, if we made the things, what makes us think the things we made are greater than we who made them?

The Psalmist understood that with all the carved statues of trees or monuments of stones and worshipped as gods that among all those gods, there was but One, who was the greatest--the One who did marvelous deeds--the One all nations would worship. And then--as now--they had a name for all the gods. When Paul was speaking before "the learned men" he referenced all the gods who were represented and the "unknown god." He explained to them who the unknown God was and why He was unknown to them.

Now, if the statues and monuments could have created themselves without the benefit of man's involvement--I'd say worship them. If they could create themselves there is a great likelihood they could actually help somebody. But there's the rub--they were made by people and then the people decided--what they made, had power.

Think about the things children make out of paper, Popsicle sticks and other materials and then allow their imaginations to soar--giving the things they made power. The things empowered their imagination, but they had no power of themselves.

Our God--our awesome God--who no one created since He has no beginning and definitely no end. He created the universe without any help from man--the sun shines during the day without man's help, the moon makes it's way to shine at night without man's help, the earth turns on its axis, without man's help, so why would we continue to believe that any "thing" made by the hands of man has any power?

Among the gods that people worship--their jobs, their spouses, their money, and some even their children, there is only one God who does great things and even though we are ridiculed about our belief in the "invisible God" it makes more sense to worship Him, than anything we make or manufacture to worship. Our God is the only self-existing God who needs no thing to prove His existence; He is the only wise God--the One who was wise enough to do all He has done without consulting any of us. He alone is worthy of our praise.

You alone are worthy, O God, of all our praise and adoration!

Our God Forever!

"For this is God, Our God forever and ever; He will be our guide Even to death." (Psalm 48:14 NKJV)

The "unseen God" that holds all power in His hands.
The "invisible" God who created all that was ever created,
Before man was--God was and is--The same.

No matter what theory, or philosophy is thought,
One fact remains true, The skies are still above
And the Seas below, higher than the clouds
The Sun, Moon, and Stars yet shining
Mountains still standing--majestic and tall,
And Man, yet flawed, but remains
As a testament to a Living God,
Not made by stones or hands, free
To be in all places at the same time,
Watching over all His children
Guiding us in life, until death,
Here on earth, and welcoming us Home
To be with Him for all eternity.

This is our God, though invisible to the naked eye of man,
His works--created--for all to see, He is
Alive and well in the hearts of all who believe and obey,
The Spirit who quickens our spirits to live
And praise Him forevermore!

Not Like Man!

"God is not a man, so he does not lie.
He is not human, so he does not change his mind.
Has he ever spoken and failed to act?
Has he ever promised and not carried it through?" (Numbers 23:19 NLT)

If God is not a man, why do we--human beings--attempt to give Him the attributes of mankind instead of understanding Him as a Spirit being--not needing us or anything He created? He is a Sovereign Being--self-sustaining--was here before anything else was and will be after everything is gone. He is the creator of all things and without Him, nothing, absolutely nothing was ever created.

Whether we believe this or not is irrelevant--especially since theorists are still trying to prove their theories--but here we are and at some point in time--we must simply realize that there are things that are beyond our understanding and defy our limited logic in attempts to explain them.

Having said all of that--God has no need to lie.  Why would He? Think about why people lie. They lie to gain confidence over others or to undermine others, to gain control over others or to escape punishment from those in authority over them. Who has any authority over Him? He is The Authority whether we accept Him as authority over our lives or not!

God is not human, but He understands His human creation well and has created us in His image--fully capable of love, but many are influenced by the evil one and their hearts have rejected Love and are full of hate.

God does not change His mind! What He has established remains true, but we have often misinterpreted His intent to fulfill our own desires and lusts. Once we understand His intent for mankind, we have a better understanding of His written Word and The Revealed Word that comes with relationship with Him. Like the human kings who seal "their decrees" with a ring and wax, God seals His decrees in our hearts with Holy Spirit.

If we look closely at the history of mankind and all of the current events, we can see that God keeps His promises--no matter what those promise are--they do come pass and we either reap the reward or the consequence clearly stated in His Word.

God will not tolerate people mocking His Word forever. As He has done in the past, He will do again--all those things He promises for either our obedience or disobedience. We only have to look at the state the world is in today to know--that He is not playing with us. So, why are we flagrantly disobedient to Him? Do we think we know more or can do more than He can? How foolish are we to think we can openly and rebelliously defy God and not suffer the consequences of our actions?

Woe unto us who know to do better, but choose to succumb to the dictates of man, rather than obey God!

Father, in the name of Jesus, help us to understand Alpha and Omega and cut away anything in our hearts, not like You so we may glorify You in everything we do and say. Spiritually, deafen our ears and blind our eyes to those thing that are not of You and keep our tongues from saying anything that is rebellious towards You. Amen!