Thoughts on: Deception, Ignorance, Pride, Unbelief and Repentance
Deception
The Devil uses 2 main baits to get us to walk right into his trap - deception & pride. He is afterall known as the father of all lies (Jn 8:44). So he and his minions are particularly adept at lying.
" (The devil) lies about who we are, he lies about who God is, he lies about who he is and what he does." - Charles H. Kraft
When we accept a lie of the devil, whether big or small, we are transfering our trust in the Heavenly Father to trusting in the father of all lies (and enemy of our souls).
The things that hold us trapped in this chasm of deception are lack of knowledge and pride.
Lack of Knowledge
This is why Hosea 4:6 says - Destruction has overtaken my people because they have no knowledge.
The bible is our sword, our weapon. A soldier without a sword is a sitting duck. Same thing, if we do not arm ourselves with the word, we have no weapon with which we can hit away the fiery darts of the devil. Our shield, according to the bible, is the shield of faith which comes from "hearing and hearing the Word of God". Our sword and shield are thus intrinsically connected to each other. If we are ignorant in the Word, we lack a weapon and we lack a shield!! Eeks.
Faith, as Charles Nieman reminded us in the service the other day, is basically believing (in the promises of God - the truth, which is also the belt that holds our armour in place) and speaking it (instead of what we feel, what the world tells us, what other people say...).
We can't believe what we do not know and thus we can't speak what we don't know and our armour falls apart also because we know not the truth. And if we know not the truth, we start to doubt in our righteousness - also described in the bible as our breastplate, or in modern terminology, our bullet proof vest. So when the devil starts shooting at us, we take hits and we take them bad... and why? Because we lack knowledge of the Truth that our LORD tells us in the Scriptures.
Pride
Some people don't seek out the Word because they feel that they know-it-all; since they have a firm grasp of "reality", why would they need to read the bible? They feel that they know more than what the Word says and they assume that God and His Word is what they make it out to be.
They refuse to believe that they have been tricked by the devil because they KNOW better. They think they are wise enough, have "eaten more rice than salt", are too intelligent to "waste time on such things"...
Pride is an especial stronghold for those who feel that they have been in church for a long time, or because they went to bible school. They think they know the Word and Doctrine and Law well - but it is important IMHO to understand the Word from the perspective of Grace, not from Law.
It is also important for us not to get "over-familliar" with the Word and start feeling like we don't need to read it so much since we've read it before. When we get too familliar and thus pull away from the Word, we might become more lost than found with time.
A wise person once said - "If you think you can't be deceived, you probably already are!"
Unbelief
Our lack of faith does not affect who God is at all.
He is constant and He constantly wants to bless you, protect you, prosper your every area of your life and love you unconditionally.
God's faithfulness does not change because of who we are, or what we believe.
God is the same yesterday, today and forever. There is no shadow of turning with Him. Phew!
No matter what happens in our lives, we have a safe harbour, a port to anchor ourselves to - our Heavenly Father and His love and promises.
We perceive Him different because of our changing perspective of Him as we grow or ebb in our relationship with Him. We are the variable, not God.
The catalysts? The lies of the devil...
Unbelief prevents God's blessings from permeating our lives, even when he desires to bless us with His choicest blessings. This is why when Jesus went into Nazareth, He could not do much.
Unbelief is triggered by a few factors -
* ignorance
* doubt
* fear
* bitterness
* anger
* self-pity
* self-exaltation
* rationalisation
* false theology
* etc etc etc
Regardless of what the Scripture says, people with unbelief in their hearts will counter it by saying things like -
"God doesn't love me anymore. He hates me. That is why all these things are happening."
"It is not about God. It is about Karma. I must have done something bad in this life or in my previous life."
"There is no miracle waiting for me. God's not going to work miracles for me. Why would He? In the first place, is He really there?"
The enemy longs to set up a false belief system in our minds and hearts. As we allow our flesh to align with those lies, we are blocked from receiving the promises and inheritance that God has set apart especially for us.
Repentance
Contrary to popular belief that repentance means saying sorry, and apologizing over and over again for others, the word actually means "a change of heart and how we think".
There is therefore a difference between "apologizing" and a heart transformation that leads to a transformation in how we understand, perceive God and His love & promises for us.
Our salvation is sure when we accepted Christ as our Saviour with all our heart.
BUT our victorious life in this world is sure when we understand what it means to repent...
It is not saying sorry and sorry again...
It is about being humble - accepting God's will for us (Jer 29:11) over what we think is what we deserve, or what other people speak over us- and thus, allowing God to transform our hearts, renew our minds and spirit so that it aligns with what He has planned for us - Hope and a Future that only grows brighter and brighter.
That is what repentance means - choosing to have a better opinion of God over everything always, no matter what the circumstances. =)
The Devil uses 2 main baits to get us to walk right into his trap - deception & pride. He is afterall known as the father of all lies (Jn 8:44). So he and his minions are particularly adept at lying.
" (The devil) lies about who we are, he lies about who God is, he lies about who he is and what he does." - Charles H. Kraft
When we accept a lie of the devil, whether big or small, we are transfering our trust in the Heavenly Father to trusting in the father of all lies (and enemy of our souls).
The things that hold us trapped in this chasm of deception are lack of knowledge and pride.
Lack of Knowledge
This is why Hosea 4:6 says - Destruction has overtaken my people because they have no knowledge.
The bible is our sword, our weapon. A soldier without a sword is a sitting duck. Same thing, if we do not arm ourselves with the word, we have no weapon with which we can hit away the fiery darts of the devil. Our shield, according to the bible, is the shield of faith which comes from "hearing and hearing the Word of God". Our sword and shield are thus intrinsically connected to each other. If we are ignorant in the Word, we lack a weapon and we lack a shield!! Eeks.
Faith, as Charles Nieman reminded us in the service the other day, is basically believing (in the promises of God - the truth, which is also the belt that holds our armour in place) and speaking it (instead of what we feel, what the world tells us, what other people say...).
We can't believe what we do not know and thus we can't speak what we don't know and our armour falls apart also because we know not the truth. And if we know not the truth, we start to doubt in our righteousness - also described in the bible as our breastplate, or in modern terminology, our bullet proof vest. So when the devil starts shooting at us, we take hits and we take them bad... and why? Because we lack knowledge of the Truth that our LORD tells us in the Scriptures.
Pride
Some people don't seek out the Word because they feel that they know-it-all; since they have a firm grasp of "reality", why would they need to read the bible? They feel that they know more than what the Word says and they assume that God and His Word is what they make it out to be.
They refuse to believe that they have been tricked by the devil because they KNOW better. They think they are wise enough, have "eaten more rice than salt", are too intelligent to "waste time on such things"...
Pride is an especial stronghold for those who feel that they have been in church for a long time, or because they went to bible school. They think they know the Word and Doctrine and Law well - but it is important IMHO to understand the Word from the perspective of Grace, not from Law.
It is also important for us not to get "over-familliar" with the Word and start feeling like we don't need to read it so much since we've read it before. When we get too familliar and thus pull away from the Word, we might become more lost than found with time.
A wise person once said - "If you think you can't be deceived, you probably already are!"
Unbelief
Our lack of faith does not affect who God is at all.
He is constant and He constantly wants to bless you, protect you, prosper your every area of your life and love you unconditionally.
God's faithfulness does not change because of who we are, or what we believe.
God is the same yesterday, today and forever. There is no shadow of turning with Him. Phew!
No matter what happens in our lives, we have a safe harbour, a port to anchor ourselves to - our Heavenly Father and His love and promises.
We perceive Him different because of our changing perspective of Him as we grow or ebb in our relationship with Him. We are the variable, not God.
The catalysts? The lies of the devil...
Unbelief prevents God's blessings from permeating our lives, even when he desires to bless us with His choicest blessings. This is why when Jesus went into Nazareth, He could not do much.
Unbelief is triggered by a few factors -
* ignorance
* doubt
* fear
* bitterness
* anger
* self-pity
* self-exaltation
* rationalisation
* false theology
* etc etc etc
Regardless of what the Scripture says, people with unbelief in their hearts will counter it by saying things like -
"God doesn't love me anymore. He hates me. That is why all these things are happening."
"It is not about God. It is about Karma. I must have done something bad in this life or in my previous life."
"There is no miracle waiting for me. God's not going to work miracles for me. Why would He? In the first place, is He really there?"
The enemy longs to set up a false belief system in our minds and hearts. As we allow our flesh to align with those lies, we are blocked from receiving the promises and inheritance that God has set apart especially for us.
Repentance
Contrary to popular belief that repentance means saying sorry, and apologizing over and over again for others, the word actually means "a change of heart and how we think".
There is therefore a difference between "apologizing" and a heart transformation that leads to a transformation in how we understand, perceive God and His love & promises for us.
Our salvation is sure when we accepted Christ as our Saviour with all our heart.
BUT our victorious life in this world is sure when we understand what it means to repent...
It is not saying sorry and sorry again...
It is about being humble - accepting God's will for us (Jer 29:11) over what we think is what we deserve, or what other people speak over us- and thus, allowing God to transform our hearts, renew our minds and spirit so that it aligns with what He has planned for us - Hope and a Future that only grows brighter and brighter.
That is what repentance means - choosing to have a better opinion of God over everything always, no matter what the circumstances. =)
A-M-E-N! :D
ReplyDelete