The root of all your problems (part 3)

In every situation take the shield of faith, and with it you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Ephesians 6:16  HCSB

The root of all of your problems is a lie; the source of all of your problems is a liar.  

Who do you always believe?

God or Satan?

Creator or creation?

God or yourself?

Satan, the master of deception, masks his deceptions in the first person, as if they are your own perceptions or emotions, as if they are your own thoughts.  His goal is to have you believe in him by believing in yourself, a mere creature, instead of believing in the Creator.  All lies, every lie from the father of lies, come to this:

Who do you always believe, no matter what?

Your unwavering faith in God is an invincible shield, 

and you wield an invincible sword, the word of God:  the truth.  

Hear and believe only the truth.

Ignore and disbelieve every contradiction of the truth.

What problem do you have right now?
At the root of that problem is a lie, and the source of that lie is the liar, the devil.

Find the lie by the Spirit of truth, and exchange the lie for the truth instead of the truth for the lie.

If you agree, pray with me,

Father, in the name of Jesus, by the Spirit of truth, guide me into all truth, revealing every lie that I believe, so that I may exchange lies with the truth.  Amen.

The root of all your problems (part 2)

He (the devil) has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44B NLT, parentheses mine.

Tammy knew Ben needed her as much as she needed him.  He'd told her this in their last conversation, and she believed him.  "Why did I doubt him? Why did I believe a lie?"

Before her lunch break, Tammy remembered anticipating and expecting Ben's call.  When he didn't call, her first thought was, "Something must've happened." But then another feeling came, a feeling of fear mixed with anger.  Again, at first, she remembered wondering why she felt fear and anger.  She believed Ben fully intended to call her, but must've been kept from doing it somehow.  Then it dawned on her.  She made a choice.  She exchanged the truth, what Ben promised, for the lie, her feelings that contradicted Ben's promise.  With this realization she had a revelation: a lie implies a liar.  Tammy now remembered the voice of the liar.

She remembered this thought that accompanied the feeling of fear and anger:  "I know he doesn't care about me; he just thinks I'm needy."  She now remembered the tone of the thought:  the tone was furious and and afraid, a fury and fear that seemed much more than she would've usually felt when she was genuinely angry or fearful.  In other words, it wasn't her thought.  Though the words were in first person, imitating her own mental voice, it wasn't a thought that originated with her own actual feelings.  She truly believed Ben probably had a good reason for not calling, but she also had the bad feelings that she remembered allowing to over take her.  She remembered the moment she let the feelings flow over her like a shower.  Before that moment, she felt like she was at two roads:  one leading to believing Ben, the other to disbelieving him.  "Why did I choose do doubt him?" Tammy asked herself.  The answer came solidly, with an almost tangible certainty.  

It was easier to trust in herself than to trust in Ben.  
This was the essence of the temptation and deception.  
(Click here for part 3)

The root of all your problems (part 1)

"They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen."  Romans 1:25 NIV

"I know he doesn't care about me; he just thinks I'm needy," thought Tammy about her husband as she drove home from work.  She clenched the steering wheel, forcefully inhaling and exhaling.  "He said he'd call me at my lunch break.  How hard is that?  I know what he's doing.  He's probably too busy with his new book to even care about our agreement.  I know what he's thinking: 'Why can't she get through one day without us talking in the middle of the day?'  Well I don't need him that much.  I'll let him know just  that as soon as I see him!'

Tammy notices how fast she's going and slows down.  She's only five minutes away from her house.  The thought of Ben's car in the driveway, sitting there all day, confirms his thoughtlessness in her mind.  But after five minutes, she pulls into her driveway, and Ben's car isn't there.  "Where on earth is he?"

Before Tammy unlocks her door she sees an envelope taped by the knob.  It's his handwriting:  "To my beautiful wife Tammy, my best friend."  She opens the envelope before going in:

"Tammy, I've been thinking about you all day.  I actually tried to call you five minutes before your lunch break to make sure I could reach you.  Our electricity went out, and I our WI-fi connection was lost, so I couldn't call you on our cell phone or send you a message.  Tammy, I want you to know something:  if you're needy, so am I.  I don't just want to talk to you at lunch, I need to.  I need to hear your voice in the middle of the day.  Our connection is my life on earth.  I love you baby, and I'll see you soon, if you get this before I get home.  (I went to see about our WI-fi.)  Ben."

She noticed Ben's name blurred by her tears, and realized this:

The root of all of her problems was a lie.  (Click here for part 2)

How to be exactly like Jesus

As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the children of God.  The Apostle Paul

If you follow Jesus, you are born of the Spirit of God, just as Jesus Himself was born of the Spirit of God. You are a son or daughter of God, just as Jesus is The Son of God.  God is your Father, and the Lord Jesus is your Brother.  Imitate Jesus.  Be led by the Spirit of Jesus.

John the Baptizer knew Jesus as The One upon whom the Spirit came and remained, as The One who would baptize with the Holy Spirit.  John knew Jesus by the Spirit.  You too should be known by the Spirit. 

This is how to be exactly like Jesus.

As Paul the Apostle said, the Spirit testifies with your spirit that you are a child of God.
You are reborn, Spirit indwelt, so be Spirit led. 

This is how to be Spirit led:
The first step is to maintain a clear conscience, a constant state of God's perfect incomprehensible peace.  Pray before you act, and seek God's peace which transcends understanding.  It will be like a red light or green light in your heart.  You will sense God's peace when you are going in the right direction, and a lack of God's peace when you are not going in the right direction.  As you grow in the consciousness of God's peace, you will grow in your ability to receive guidance from him.  This leads to the second step.

Follow the Spirit's promptings in your intuition.  In the first step of being led by the Spirit, you would receive only "yes or no" kind of guidance that you would initiate in prayer for God's will.  Now the Spirit Himself initiates revelation and direction.  You sense an inexplicable certainty that you should go in specific direction or say a specific thing.  You don't know why with your logical mind, but you are absolutely certain and clear that the Spirit is steering you internally, though not forcefully. You still have freewill.  As you grow in listening to your intuition, guided by God's Spirit, for the witness of the Lord Jesus, you will receive more and more revelation, direct communion with God Himself.

God will start to speak to you in more depth and detail.  You will know the voice of the Spirit, conversing with you daily, through out the day intimately.  He will enhance your understanding of scripture as you study and show you how to apply scriptures wisely.  You will also discern Satan and demons seeking to destroy your connection to Christ.  The Spirit will empower you to resist them.  Continue to follow Him.  Be led by the Spirit.

This is how to be exactly like Jesus.

If you agree, please pray with me:

"God, in the name of Jesus, fill me and lead me by Your Spirit so I may be exactly like Jesus in whatever situation I'm in. In Jesus' name Amen."

Share with me in the comments box your experiences of following the Spirit.

How YOU reveal God's glory

The glory of the LORD shall be seen by all mankind together.  The LORD has spoken.  It shall be.
Isaiah the prophet (Paraphrased in song.)

Man is the image and glory of God; woman is the glory of man.  Paul the apostle.

If you are a man, you are the glory of God; if you are a woman, you are the glory of God's glory. 
This is reality.  Masculinity and femininity reveal God's glory and the glory of God's glory. 

In this day and age, your manhood and womanhood are divine callings. You reveal Christ and His eternal bride.  You reveal a glimpse of the union between God the Father and God the Son. 

Embrace your masculinity and femininity for God's glory.  Refuse to allow a redefinition of your masculine and feminine natures.  Be a man.  Be a woman.  Be like Christ.  Be like His bride.

Your bodies reveal God's glory and the glory of God's glory.  Treat them as temples of God, and each part of your bodies as instruments and weapons of righteousness, as Paul the apostle said.  If you are a man, do what only a man can--let your facial hair grow; if you are a woman, let your softness show.  Give your sexuality to your wife or your husband only.  If you are unmarried, be faithful sons and daughters, brothers and sisters.  Whatever state you are in as men and women, you know how you are masculine and feminine outside and in.  Be this and only this.  And the glory of the LORD shall be seen by all mankind together.  The LORD has spoken.  It shall be.  

Two things God will always give you (Part 1)

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
1 John 5:14-15 NIV

What if you could always get exactly what you prayed for?  You can.  In fact, you can always receive these two things from God:  His will and His peace.

YOU CAN ALWAYS RECEIVE GOD'S WILL.
It's impossible for you to completely escape God's will for you.  God allows nothing to happen to you, good or evil, true or false, that stops His will in your life.  Therefore, if you want God's will for your life, you can assume two things:

1. God will instantly change your situation if it goes against His will.
2. God won't instantly change your situation, which means for the time, you are in fact, in His will.

For example, say you feel you're not living where you can best honor God.  You want to move.  So you seek God's will for your relocation, asking Him to give you an opportunity to move.  If God doesn't show you a way to move within the hour or day of your prayer, then for the time, you should stay where you are.  You should also know that, for now, you're where He wants you to be.  If you know that God will always give you whatever you ask in agreement with His will, then you can know that you have it as soon as you ask it.  But how can you know if the situation doesn't immediately change?  You can know by perfect incomprehensible peace. (Click here for part 2)

Two things God will always give you (Part 2)

"You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!" Isaiah 26:3 NLT

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."  Phil. 4:6-7 NIV

YOU CAN ALWAYS RECEIVE GOD'S PEACE
The two things you can always receive from God are his will and his peace.  These two things are really one thing, because it's only in God's will that you can have perfect and incomprehensible peace.  Using the example of moving from part 1, let's say you want to move but you can't right now.  As we said, if you can't move right now, then you must assume that for now you are exactly where God wants you to be.  And even if you aren't, until he gives you a way to leave, he will give you peace that has two very distinct characteristics: perfection and incomprehensibility.

1. Perfect Peace
Nothing and no one can you give complete peace except God.  No drug or drink or person can make you feel complete tranquility in spite of circumstances you wish you could change, like if you wanted to move but you couldn't.  God's peace is perfect.  You don't want or need anything else when He gives you peace.  This is supernatural because it's incomprehensible.

2. Incomprehensible Peace
God's peace doesn't seem to make sense, given the circumstances at the time.  You are definitely not happy if you want to move but can't, yet you feel content, tranquil, satisfied.  Why?  It's definitely not your environment because you in fact want to leave your environment but can't.  God either makes your environment tolerable, or he gives you peace even though it's intolerable.  Either way, his peace is incomprehensible, and you feel his peace when you are in fact in his will.

Ask for God's will, or ask for His peace.  In asking one or the other, you are asking for the same thing.  When you ask for His will, be absolutely certain that you have it, right then and there and now.  With this certainty God will give you His perfect incomprehensible peace.

If you agree, pray with me:

God, we acknowledge You as our Creator and Lord.  We exchange our wills for Yours, because Your will is good, acceptable, and perfect.  Please give us Your will for our lives, and with Your will, Your perfect, incomprehensible peace.  In Jesus' name, amen. 

Will you resist the Antichrist (Part 4)

Who do you admire the most?  What do you like doing more than anything?

When you think of the one you admire, or of what you like doing more than anything, at some point, you have encountered a Christian and an Anti-christian, a glimpse of Christ and the Antichrist.  I know because I've experienced both.

As a musician, I have encountered heavenly and hellish music, and thus heavenly and hellish musicians.  Both were wonderfully creative and opened new worlds of composition to me.  Both pointed me to the Creator of Music, and the other claimed I could be The Creator of Music.  One showed me how to create musical worlds that were like God's home world, the other wanted me to create my own world, where I am my own musical god.  You may not be a musician, but in your field, you've met the Christian and the Anti-christian as well.

You've met someone that you admired in your field, someone who had an unexplainable quality.  He or she seemed to grasp the concepts and principles of your field with extraordinary clarity.  When you asked how he came to have such understanding, he told you about God.  And you believed him.  But you felt uneasy, because someone else seemed to have a similar clarity.  But she didn't make you feel like you had to give up who you are to be enlightened.  Quite the opposite.  She told you that the light was in you, not in some distant God "out there."  She wanted you to look deep inside of yourself and find your own light, like she did.  You were attracted to her, but also cautious of her.  Something in her voice told you she couldn't fully be trusted.  You know intuitively that she also wanted you to lay down your life for her power source, though she didn't tell you what that source was.

So whom did you choose?
Whom do you choose?

The choice you are making, the choices you have made, only lead to the final choice you will make before this world ends.  One day, in the final days, Christ and Antichrist will want what they've always wanted:  your soul.  You've already been giving it to one or the other.  If you haven't been choosing Christ, choose him now.  Right now.  Not the Christ of your imagination, or the enlightened ones who focus you on yourself.  Choose the God you can't imagine, the one beyond your imagination, the real God, the Only True God.

Choose Him now:

God, I have known you through creation and conscience, through revelations and persons who reflect you.  But I have ignored you to be my own god.  Please forgive me.  I reject all false gods, and I submit to you alone, the Only True God.

Now pursue absolute reality, no matter what it costs you or your family or anybody.  Refuse to live in the imaginary, or to allow anyone to tempt you to create your own reality.  Jesus said these words for you to take to heart:

For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world:  to bear witness to the truth.
All who are of the truth hear my voice.

If you want to hear the voice of Jesus, commit yourself to absolute truth, to absolute reality.

Will you resist the Antichrist (Part 3)

In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself.  Unless you know God as that--and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison--you do not know God at all.  As long as you are proud you cannot know God.  A proud man is always looking down on things and people:  and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.  That raises a terrible question.  How is it that people who are quite obviously eaten up with Pride can say they believe in God and appear to themselves very religious?  I am afraid it means they are worshiping an imaginary God.  C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity--The Great Sin.

What comes to your mind when you imagine Jesus?  Some see him as a democrat or liberal, others as a republican or conservative.  Some see a radical revolutionary.  Others see a black man, or a gay man.  Some introverts find passages that prove Jesus was, in fact, an introvert, praying in solitary places and having intimate one on one conversations.  The extroverted Christians find passages of Jesus before crowds and at parties, turning water to wine, living it up in spite of the uptight religious leaders of the day--a bold extravert.  Catholics see him one way, protestants another.  But what should come to mind when we think about or imagine Jesus?


Nothing.

To try to imagine him, even using "holy imagination" as some say, is idolatry.  It is an imaginary graven image, but an image of our making nonetheless.  Our imaginary Christs are really Antichrists, other Christs, even if nice.  Jesus just so happens to see things exactly as we see them.  In your mind, you have met him.

(Click here for part 4.)

Will you resist the AntiChrist? (Part 2)

"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." 
Luke 10:22 NIV

Are you a false prophet?  Do you presume to speak for God as if you have a perfect knowledge of who He is?  This is dangerous.  We dare not misrepresent God, acting as if He is made in our image instead of us being made in His.  

It is written,
"When you did these things and I kept silent, you thought I was exactly like you. But I now arraign you and set my accusations before you." Psalms 50:21 NIV

Moses misrepresented God when he struck a rock in anger instead of speaking to it as God commanded him to.  Before, when Israel was thirsty, God told Moses to strike a particular rock.  Moses obeyed, and water came from this rock.  There was a time later in Israel's journey through the desert when Israel complained of thirst.  God told Moses to speak to the rock this time, but instead, in anger, Moses struck the rock.  Water came out, but God had been misrepresented.  Moses was to represent God to Israel, but instead Moses made it seem as if God were angry, when God wasn't.  For this, Moses was punished by God; he wasn't allowed to enter the promised land.  Why was God so stern?

God will never allow Himself to be misrepresented by those who represent him.  This includes you and me as Christians. We don't have to be Christian leaders to misrepresent Christ; any misrepresentation of Christ is an accurate representation of the Antichrist.  Therefore, you and I have met him, the Antichrist, already.  When a Christian acts unchristian, or when you and I act unchristian, we meet the Antichrist, or people meet him when they meet you and me.

Click here for part 3.

Will you resist the antichrist? (Part 1)

"...every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world." 1 John 4:3 NIV

You've already met him.  You already know him.  Either you've accepted or rejected him, but one thing is certain.  One day your decision, your acceptance or rejection, will be final.  This is what he was like, what he is like, and what he will be like when you meet him again, perhaps for the last time.

There is something you really want, something that defines your life.  You've been striving for this something since your first conscious thought about what makes you really happy.  You've met someone who seems like he has exactly what you're striving for, possessing the happiness you've wanted all your life.  But there is a problem.  When you ask him what makes him so happy, or you watch him to find out his secret, you don't like the answer:

His happiness is God.  He lives for God alone, and will accept no other happiness except God.

Now you know the secret of his happiness, but you want to forget...until you meet someone else. 

You meet someone who also seems to be what you want to be, someone who also seems happy, almost happier than the man of God, but not quite as happy.  This puzzles you, until ask him how he became so happy (yet not so happy.)  You find out from this man that he lives to evolve into his ultimate self, that he himself is his ultimate happiness.  He is in touch with his inner god, his Christ-self.  His happiness seems as intense as cocaine, and as calm as marijuana.  The buzz of alcohol seems normal to him.  You like him better.  He didn't have to surrender himself to a Lord; he is his own lord, and he promises to show you how to be your own lord as well...

Click here for part 2.