Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Deception

          
                         Deception 
Gen 3:13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” How do we avoid deception??? (With the truth, (God's word is truth), so if were seldom in the word (gleaning godly insight) deception is unavoidable! Fame, fortune,  power, and pleasure are deceivers attached to our flesh for the purpose of destruction. Apart from the spirit of Jesus in you, there is no hope! This world spirit equals deception!)
Deut 11:16 Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods and worship them.  Stay out of the word of God and your heart will be deceived. Your only protection from deception is God's word revealed through the Holy Spirit! Religion is a deception, born-again relationship with Jesus through his Holy Spirit breaks deception. We must be honest by revealing what and whom false gods are. Myself-sports-children-work-materialism-etc. only we ourselves can determine that for our own lives! Whatever gets between you and seeking Jesus with all your heart is an idol!
Josh 9:22 Then Joshua called for them and spoke to them, saying, “Why have you deceived us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ when you are living within our land? Example: figtree, many pretending to be Christians influencing the body negatively in regards to the faith of Jesus. Most Christians are empty professing they are not, unable to tell the difference!
1 Kings 22:22 “The Lord said to him, ‘How?’ And he said, ‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He said, ‘You are to entice him and also prevail. Go and do so.God will give you what you want, if you want leaders who will tickle your ears, telling you what you want to hear, God will accommodate us in our embraced deception. It is our responsibility to avoid deception through diligently studying and acting on God's word.
1 Kings 22:23 “Now therefore, behold, the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and the Lord has proclaimed disaster against you.” Catholic example: people of the Catholic persuasion because their parents' tradition or whatever are bent on their own traditional ways regardless of the truth of God's word. If they are taught to use a rosary and the rote prayers that go along with the rosary, this tradition will not allow them to receive truth in that area. If they have been brought up to worship Mary or whatever their traditions proclaim, and if they are not teachable - their tradition will hinder the Word of God . In a sense, God will give them over to their tradition. The traditions of man make the Word of God of no effect. The Holy Spirit only leads in truth because He is truth and those who don't want the truth or are deceived from the truth are being ministered by a false deceiving spirit. (Organized religion, (most denominations) such as the Jews in Jesus day!)
2 Chron 18:21, 22 He said, ‘I will go and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He said, ‘You are to entice him and prevail also. Go and do so.’ if people are bent on their own way God will allow them to have at it. Without the Holy Spirit and a heart for truth, deception is inevitable!
Job 15:31 Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; For emptiness will be his reward. Emptiness is everything but the truth, Jesus, His word by His Spirit, and the heart that seeks him totally.
Ps 89:22 The enemy will not deceive him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him. The heart of one totally bent on truth according to God's word in the power of the Holy Spirit cannot be deceived.
Jer 9:5 Everyone deceives his neighbor And does not speak the truth, They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves committing iniquity. The nature of man is pride of which he will do and say anything to be exalted for self gain, a true friend is hard to come by. The marriage that works is the one where two are truly teachable, determine to obey the truth in God's order, meaning the husband leading.
Jer 29:8 “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream. Because someone (people in positions of authority, pastors etc.) says they are prophets or God told them, doesn't mean it's true. We are all responsible to follow the truth for ourselves. Make sure everything lines up with the word of God in the context of the character of Jesus. We are called to follow Jesus and Jesus alone, God uses people but we must determine who is of God. Without total commitment to Jesus, it can't be done, deception is inevitable.
Jer 37:9 Thus says the Lord, ‘Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,” for they will not go. Sometimes we say things that we want to happen to make us feel good but unless it be by the word of God its false hope.
Jer 42:20 For you have only deceived yourselves; for it is you who sent me to the Lord your God, saying, “Pray for us to the Lord our God; and whatever the Lord our God says, tell us so, and we will do it.” Without a pure heart deception is inevitable. Each one of us is responsible to search for truth and follow him (Jesus)
Jer 49:16 “As for the terror of you, The (arrogance of your heart) has deceived you, O you who live in the clefts of the rock, Who occupy the height of the hill. Though you make your nest as high as an eagle’s, I will bring you down from there,” declares the Lord. Our own ways will always bring us to destruction
Obad 3 “The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, You who live in the clefts of the rock, In the loftiness of your dwelling place, Who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to earth?’
Obad 7 “All the men allied with you Will send you forth to the border, And the men at peace with you Will deceive you and overpower you. They who eat your bread Will set an ambush for you. (There is no understanding in him.) Lesson to be learned here is to trust nobody except Jesus through His Word. We are not talking about paranoia but just because someone is walking beside you professing to be your friend--they may have wrong motives. Jesus through his word by his Holy Spirit must always be first place. in your heart. There is only one good!


Rom 16:18 For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Jesus but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. Many are charismatic, extremely convincing, but are for self gain deceiving many goodhearted people. Keep your eyes on Jesus, diligently in his word, having a heart sensitive to his Holy Spirit of which will protect you!
1 Cor 3:18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. We must deny what the world considers prosperous and hold on to what Jesus considers prosperous!
1 Cor 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous (will not inherit the kingdom of God?) Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, this is God's view of which must be our view of which the world repels but remains the truth!
1 Cor 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.This is a very prominent danger. Most people professing Christianity are influenced by their company rather than influencing their so-called friends. The people we associate with determine greatly our spiritual healthiness. Unlike Moses we would rather have the pleasures and comforts of the world than fellowship with Jesus and his true people if you can find them. It is our responsibility to find them!!!
2 Cor 6:8 by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; Those who speak out for the Lord are continually misunderstood. Ministers have those who love them and those who hate them, but true ministers of the Gospel seldom have those who are indifferent. Everywhere that Jesus and His apostles went, they either caused a riot or a revival, but they weren't ignored
2 Cor 11:3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. I believe this is where we are missing it. Jesus must be 1st Pl. in everything. To know God, you have to know Jesus intimately. Jesus told Philip if you have seen me you have seen the father. In Jesus dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Every knee bows at the name of Jesus.
Gal 6:3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. We are only something in and through Jesus Pride will destroy, many leaders if not most come to be served rather than serve as Jesus instructed. Because people listen to us we think we are above them. flesh is so vulnerable to fame, fortune, power and pleasure. True godly humility is rarely found. (God told me) is common. God doesn't tell 7 leaders seven different things on the same subject. We really lack the heart to search the Scriptures in truth and teach them balanced by the Holy Spirit. Example, prosperity, the word of God is clear that God wants his people to prosper and be in health. Some say God wants us to be materialisticly  rich, others say poverty is the way. It can't be both so why can't we read the word and find out God's heart? (All prosperity is, is living victoriously , having your needs met, knowing your authority in Jesus, living in his peace and love.) (Rare to be found)
Gal 6:7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. We think we can live of the world and reap the fruit of the Spirit of Jesus. Often we refuse to forgive, walk in love, diligently study to know his word, yet we think were going to say one prayer and God is going to shower us with gifts. (That is deception) we refuse to obey and know the truth of God's word, yet we think we're going to sow destruction but reap blessings.
Eph 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Disobedience refers to those who reject Jesus. Could also refer to those proclaiming to be followers of Jesus yet disobedient to his word. Without the Holy Spirit we are incapable of obedience to our master. Yet how many received the baptism of the Holy Spirit? 2 Tim 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away
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2 Thess 2:3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, we must guard our hearts with all diligence, fellowshiping with strong believers, challenging each other in love, seeking truth as a lost Pearl. Love of the world and its riches distracts and robs from our spiritual wellness. We will be bombarded by every wave of doctrine under the sun but we must stay steadfast in the truth of God's word, staying close to Jesus, following and loving him with all of our heart! Getting every thought captive obeying Jesus in his word!
1 Tim 2:14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. This is a reason why the woman should occupy a subordinate rank in all things. It is that in the most important situation in which she was ever placed, she had shown that she was not qualified to take the lead. She had displayed a readiness to yield to temptation; a weakness of resistance; a bending of character, which showed that she was not adapted to the situation of headship, and which made it proper that she should ever afterwards occupy a subordinate situation. The woman opposed a feebler resistance to the temptation than he would have done, and that the temptation as actually applied to her would have been ineffectual on him. To tempt and seduce him to fall, there were needed all the soft persuasions, the entreaties, and the example of his wife. Satan understood this, and approached man not with the specious argument of the serpent, but through the allurements of his wife. It is undoubtedly implied here that man, in general, has a power of resisting certain kinds of temptation, superior to that possessed by woman, and hence that the headship properly belongs to him. This is, undoubtedly, the general truth, though there may be many exceptions, and many noble cases to the honour of the female sex, in which they evince a power of resistance to temptation superior to man. In many traits of character, and among them those which are most lovely, woman is superior to man; yet it is undoubtedly true that, as a general thing, temptation will make a stronger impression on her than on him. (Adam was not deceived, he was seduced by his wife) The woman should remember that sin began with her, and she should therefore be willing to occupy an humble and subordinate situation. 1 Cor11:3 Eph 5:22-24/Col 3:18/1 Tim 2:11, 12/Titus 2:5/1Pet. 3:1-6/

2 Tim 3:13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.Anyone walking without love and honor to Jesus and not committing to obey his word falls in this category
Titus 1:10 For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,Religion
Titus 3:3 For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.Notice it says we once were, not still are!
Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
James 1:26 I James 1:16 f anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.Speaking God's word, not our emotional feelings
1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.We trip on sin, but we do not practice it, Quick to repent (change direction)
1 John 2:26 These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.Oftentimes this is not malicious, but people not knowing God's word according to his spirit.
1 John 3:7 Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;We are not Righteous just because we intellectually proclaim Jesus But Rather because we obey his word!
2 John 7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.These are obvious
Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.We are more than conquerors through Jesus, the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony
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Rev 19:20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.
a short time.Without total commitment to Jesus and his word we won't recognize false prophets who carry deception


Thursday, April 17, 2014

Law vs. Grace Pt 3

Law vs. Grace Pt. 3

Acts14:22 shows strengthening of the disciples souls, encouraging them to continue in the faith, (Heb 3:13) and saying, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” We must need encouragement to continue on our journey with Jesus. Note that it says many tribulations to enter God's kingdom. The Word teaches us we are more than conquerors through Jesus (Rom 8:37) but if we do not have the knowledge of God and the understanding of how to use our weapons against the evil forces and principalities of this world, how can we expect to have God’s intercession in our endeavors? (2 Cor10:4) Do we see the importance of being in God’s word gaining knowledge and understanding so we can have the wisdom to know how, when, and where to apply it with all confidence that He is faithful who promised! (Eph 6:16)



Flesh is tied to the world fame, fortune, power, and pleasure! Putting most of our energy on sports, entertainment, and ourselves." We can deceive ourselves by not being honest with who we are. When our lives end, there is no do-over. We have one life to make a decision of who we will follow.  I don’t think we take this seriously enough. We think God is just like us - He’s going to say "Oh I understand we all make mistakes." No, the truth is He’s going to say "Get away from me I never knew you," now spend eternity in hell, (sobering thought but truth!) 


All I’m doing is sending a warning, take it or leave it! The Spirit is tied to Jesus through hearing and obeying His Word! No Word = No Jesus! You can’t obey what you don’t know and we are responsible to know! Ignorance will never excuse us! Many profess but have no knowledge of His Word of of whom make God out to be who and what ever they want him to be. What this really means is that they are their own God! (That leads to eternal destruction!) 


God’s grace, through Jesus, is not a license to sin. Jesus did not deliver us IN sin but FROM sin! If we live by the dictates of our flesh (impulses, lusts, emotions) and not by trusting and obeying God’s Word, it’s impossible to get any victory and please God. Without faith it is impossible to please God! (Hebrews 11:6) and we must believe that He is and He rewards (Luke 18:29, 30) us who diligently seek Him (here and now!)

Law vs. Grace Pt 2

Law vs. Grace Pt 2

Ephesians 2:8-9  

The key word here is earn! There is nothing that you or I can do that would warrant or entitle us God’s favor except the BLOOD of JESUS! Jesus said, "A tree is known by its fruit." Mat 7:17 

Are our actions produced by faith (acting on God’s word) or by doing something that you think would earn God's favor? I believe this subject is extremely misunderstood among proclaiming Christians today. 
1. Jesus said we must be born again (John 3:7
2. What does a born-again life look like? 
Living a life trusting in God’s Word regardless what we see! How can we trust God’s Word if we don’t know it or understand it? We eat food to energize our physical life in the same way we need spiritual food to energize our spiritual life! What happens to us if we don’t eat? The answer is evident! The same happens if we neglect our spiritual being! We must always remember God is not going to change for us and we must live our lives through His Word. 

On judgement day, when I'd want to say "Sorry I was wrong, I made a mistake", Jesus will say depart from me I never knew you; not real comforting is it? But it’s still true- See (Mat 7:21

So my challenge is this: What is going to be your claim before God to enter the kingdom of heaven? Is it going to be "I believed in Jesus?" The devil can say the same (James2:19our actions prove what we believe and who we believe in! (James2:14-22)

I challenge anyone who says they are born again (meaning they are born into another kingdom of Jesus) and is not hungering, (through regular meditation of God’s word seeking knowledge and understanding) has only a mental assent, and his heart is not renewed (changed, transformed). 
Yes there are difficult seasons and God is so merciful, but to take our salvation that lightly is a very dangerous position. If faith comes by hearing and hearing by God’s Word (Romans 10:17) and we're not hearing God’s Word to produce faith, what is sustaining us? 
The world's fears? 
Where do we get our confidence if we are not hearing it from Jesus? 
A friend of the world is an enemy of God (James 4:4). It is God’s Word that quenches every fiery dart shot at us by the enemy (Eph 6:16) is better we judge ourselves today while there is still time. (1 Cor 11:31). We must realize this is a serious walk we are in! Jesus said the way is narrow and few find it (sobering challenge) (Matthew 7:14) 

What does a born-again person look like? 
A. Puts Jesus first place in everything! 
B. One who loves and identifies with other believers (obeyers of the Word) 
C. Loves and depends on God’s Word! 
D. Enjoys seeking to understand God’s Word! 

What does a professing Christian with only mental assent (professing but not possessing) look like? 
A. Is not comfortable talking about Jesus or His Word even though they spend time at Bible studies! 
B. Unwilling to seek knowledge and understanding of God’s Word of which they refuse to obey! 
C. Goes to church for feeling of belonging and pleasing God but their heart is in the world!
D. Does not enjoy true fellowship in God’s Word of which his walk may be challenged! 
E. Gets convicted in church but when leaving the church forgets what the Word showed him he looked like! (James 1:23)

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Law vs Grace Pt 1

Law vs Grace


Let’s determine the definition of law from a born-again Christian’s view and a Jew back in Jesus time. A Jew back in Jesus time considered the law to be the first five books of the Bible (Torah). (Circumcision, etc. and also many traditions.) Most Christians today can’t even spell the first five books of the Bible much less obey them. So the law (works) to Christians today would be, 
-Going to church
-Reading the bible
-Taking cookies to grandma, etc.
anything that we think would impress God enough to get us to heaven. All those things in themselves are not wrong but our own heart determines motives. 

Let's begin with a visual example: if we fail (sin) and our hearts Intent is to please God through obedience and loyalty to Jesus, through diligently seeking to know and understand his word, a heart that loves our brothers and sisters in Jesus (merciful and forgiving). 

Now if we fail (sin) and the Holy Spirit convicts us our response must be (If we repent) : visually see Jesus walking next to you and he opens his arms with a smile on his face confirming his love and right standing with you. The reason is because your righteousness (right standing with God) is totally based on what he did on the cross for you, not on your behavior.Our behavior is a response to his love for us; obedience to his commands and knowing that his commands are in our best interest to keep us out of the grasp of the evil one.

My grateful heart must be the reason I can always come boldly to my Father through Jesus and because of what Jesus did on the cross for me not because I'm so worthy because I think  I don't sin. If it's the latter, then we are giving place to the devil to put us in condemnation and feel unworthy when we fall short. Our righteousness is always based on what God did for me and not on how wonderful my behavior is. Because we are always working out our salvation and as much as we desire to please our master, we fail and without the proper perspective we can feel so unworthy and run away from God rather than to him. We must always run into the arms of Jesus in failure. 

His shedding of his blood for us on the cross will never be in vain because we bathe in His blood. We have the power to overcome anything through relationship with Jesus. Through Him we have friendship, faithfulness, forgiveness, grace, mercy; all that He is in us. 

Please don't misunderstand, we live to please our Father, in and through Jesus, by obeying Him and doing what we know pleases Him. However, that's not what puts us right with him, that is just what he deserves. The reason this is so important is the enemy will want to show us how unworthy we are if and when we fail, which causes us to lose confidence in our master and Savior Jesus: of which gives darkness a way into our lives and leads to discouragement, unworthiness, and hopelessness. 

We must think right to grow right. If we have the religious attitude that "I can do anything I desire" and "After all I don't have the power to overcome sin-- God's grace will cover it" we are living as a friend of the world and an enemy with God. This is living in great deception and not God's grace at all. Jesus died so we can have confidence and hope to overcome the adversity that dwells in this fallen world. We are more than Conquerors through the blood of Jesus. If we
1. Stand boldly in the face of darkness proclaiming "Greater is Jesus in us than he that is in the world" 
2. Speak and trust the word of Jesus to see us through
3. The rest we leave with him!

The enemy is very proficient in bringing up our past to put us under condemnation, but the truth is we are worthy because of the ONE, Christ Jesus Who is our all in all!!! 
Bottom line: if you love Jesus, desire to obey him, willing to repent upon conviction from him, develope the visual of his arms always open to you with a smile on his face seeing his approval of you, longing and appreciating your faithfulness and friendship to him!


Flesh versus Spirit

                                     Flesh versus spirit

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 

What does it mean to be "born again" into the kingdom of God. As it says in Colossians, the kingdom of My Dear Son "Jesus." Colossians 1:13

John 6:63 The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 

Human effort means we cannot earn right relationship with God. Many believe they can have favor from God by the things they do (go to church, read the Bible, give money, etc. ) it is only what Jesus did and our trust and confidence in Him ( through obedience to His word) that makes us children of God. When we obey the Word of God, the Holy Spirit in us produces the good works. One may ask how can I stop doing the things I don’t want to do, the answer is obey God’s word -- which the flesh will object to. Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee ( James 4:7)

Acts 5:32 We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, who is given by God to those who obey him.” 

Notice it says the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey Him- -notice it does not say the Holy Spirit is given to those who intellectually believe. When we choose to obey the word of God, the Holy Spirit activates grace which produces the power to overcome temptations. Grace is not a free ticket to get out of jail, pass go and collect $200, it is the power of God to bring forth the victory that we couldn’t do by ourselves!

The great religious deception is that I can go on sinning without any consequence, because after all Jesus paid for my sin. That’s a lie from hell! Yes as long as we have the flesh we will miss the mark occasionally but we don’t practice sin or condone it. Repentance means to turn from. Stop doing what you know is wrong, change of direction and do what you know is right to the glory of Jesus! If we realize (be honest - acknowledge  the fact that) we fail and turn back to the truth, God is faithful and just to forgive us! I John 1:9 We must guard our hearts and minds by God’s word!

Romans 8:1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. (Read on) verse 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, (for who?--those) who no longer follow their sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit (what the Spirit of God wants). 

There is only one way this can be done in that is in complete obedience to God’s Word. We can’t do this if we don’t know God’s Word which translates we are walking in our fleshly desires (emotions, lusts). Yes there is sometimes discomfort obeying God’s Word rather than obeying our lust but that’s the meaning of born again!

Verse 5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death (hell). But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace (heaven). For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. 

(That’s as clear as it gets!) That is why it’s so important to search the truth with all your heart of which God says that’s the only way you will find the truth. Each one of us is responsible for what teaching we allow into our hearts and minds, we can’t blame the pastor or the church we belong to because that was done by our own free will. If the Holy Spirit is in us he will witness to us the truth but if we want our own way we will harden ourselves from hearing the truth of which we are still accountable for. The devil convinces us that God will understand after all life is difficult and that’s what I was taught raised from a child but that will not stand in the presence of God. To be in the presence of God and to be eternally rejected because we believe something somebody else told us rather than what the word of God told us is going to be a frightful experience! The most important and best quality a person can have is teachability if it is the word of God don’t compromise it but if it’s not run from it. Bottom line is this, we will have no excuses!!! (Read and meditate on all of Romans 8)

Let me offer some scenarios of how flesh wants to overrule truth (spirit)  
A   A person’s heart is being challenged by the Holy Spirit to the truth of Jesus and commitment to him but our flesh will rationalize I will do it later, there’s plenty of time/look at all the fun I will miss out on/look at all the rejection Connie Christian gets for being a Bible thumper, I can’t handle that/my spouse will walk away from me/I fear loneliness/    the solution is: living with Jesus the truth now and eternally forever is worth whatever the cost is! He is God, if we trust him he will take care of us and lead us into all truth! He will be a friend and father to us and the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard us and give us his peace! We just don’t realize the consequences of rejecting Jesus and living now and eternally apart from him! What many think our fun times here on this earth are strongholds set up to destroy us and put us in misery. (John 10:10) says the thief (devil) cometh to steal kill and destroy, (through lies, deception, violence, hatred, selfishness, greed, Jesus came to give a ( life) and he didn’t stop there but he said life (abundantly). If we do things his way we will reap abundant life now and forever. That takes effort, a choice of our free will to walk by the spirit of God (obedience to his word) not our understanding of him, and to resist the darkness of which tantalizes our flash, pleasing Jesus who is worthy whether we feel it or not! If we go by our feelings rather than faith in Jesus and his word we inevitably will fail! Many professing Christians miss the mark because we rely on how we feel rather than on what God said! Don’t let deception dictate your future, now or eternally!

Now let’s get into some practical application in some different areas: fame, fortune, power, and pleasure,

Fame-the stick a person who is discontent and are deceived into the theory that if they become somebody important they will be worth something rather than what Jesus and his word says about you. Young boys have these urges into athletics because they see all the superstars get all this attention and money which brings forth women and stardom. Nothing wrong with athletics but in our world today athletics sports is a god! It distracts us from the truth of Jesus and his word and commitment to him because we are selfish and only the word of God can break that deception! (Reality shows)

Fortune-we see all these people living luxurious life’s Hollywood personalities etc. sports figures, TV personalities. The media through the deception of darkness creates the illusion that money brings happiness and if he really knew the truth about these people’s lives it would be much less attractive but the deception of material possessions distract our minds and hearts so aggressively we become greedy and unwilling to share with others as we are led. We want bigger houses, bigger cars so that we can impress people and get them into the deception that I am somebody rather than getting my identity and contentment in my friendship and relationship with Jesus who teaches quite the opposite. Things are wrong in themselves but we may god’s out of them which distracts us from the truth and ultimately we enter idolatry. If Jesus is your God money won’t be! If money and materialism is your god Jesus can’t be! Jesus is Lord of all or Lord of nothing!!!

Power-the negative side of power likes to control for the sake of feeling valuable and secure. Relationships are destroyed because of these strongholds. Marriages, work, countries, parent-child,. If we don’t recognize the stronghold of power it can become extremely evil to the extent of people like Stalin, Adolf Hitler, etc. We can do this in friendships, marriages, which destroys, humility builds! If we get power why would we listen to anybody else? Pride comes before a fall! If we are committed and diligent in meditating on God’s word these strongholds will be exposed and will be convicted and desire to choose and please Jesus rather than please myself of which brings forth deliverance. It all comes back to my heart, who am I going to yield to Jesus? And his word? Or myself of which is idolatry and disqualifies any profession of Christianity even though many choose to live in their own deception, won’t change the eternal result!

Pleasure-oftentimes we associate pleasure with sexual activity. From the man’s perspective, he may get a lustful imaginative thought and because he is desiring to pleasure himself rather than his Lord Jesus that spirit will meet him around like lettuce to a rabbit. The difficult thing for a man is that he is led by his attraction through his eyes (Sampson) (David) and a man’s imagination will take him to extremely pleasurable fantasies and without the Holy Spirit working with our self-control through his grace we give birth to these fantasy lives in oftentimes brings forth addiction. When a man sees seduction and that’s exactly what it is, he must get that thought and fantasy under subjection to Jesus and his word being willing to die to that gratification if necessary to please his master. No it’s not easy but it will set you free from demonic forces controlling us. When a man is encountered with a seductive spirit the proper action is to ask himself is this real, does this girl really mean what she’s appears to mean? The answer from Jesus will always be no (unless it your spouse), she wants to reduce you to a loaf of bread. But that revelation will only come through a heart that seeking Jesus with all his heart, that’s what he said you’ll find me when you search for me with all your heart! I believe this temptation, seductive spirit against men hinder and paralyze spiritually many good godly men. They feel dirty, condemned, unforgiven and the frustration builds souls powerful that they don’t know how to overcome because they believe this is a normal desire of which it is but it must be contained in the context of our God, his spirit, his word. If sex, food, entertainment, becomes a god in our lives we will not and can’t be free to serve Jesus. Condemnation will haunt us, but we say there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, but remember it says for those who walk by the spirit not by the flesh, so if we’re walking according to our flesh, condemnation has a right to us. Walking by the spirit needs to be walking according to God’s word, the faith, love, power, commitment level of Jesus! I know it sounds like a tall order but that’s why we need the Holy Spirit in us!!!     food can operate in the same way, shopping sprees, excessive decorating, it all stems from discontentment and discontentment comes from our lack of relationship with Jesus and trust in him totally. We need to be encouraged daily to overcome these worldly lusts but if we let the television lie to us and we believe that more than we do the word of Jesus how can we expect any victory at all? The truth of God’s word through the person and name of Jesus is the only way we can get set free!!! It says work out your salvation with fear and trembling, that’s what Jesus meant when he said to live you must die to our carnal nature and its lusts. Yes, it does cost, yes from God’s perspective it is a free gift but working out our salvation is going to cost us our life (heart)! Deliverance is available and attainable through Jesus and his word but sometimes the cost is excruciating pain. Getting free from darkness (only done through the blood of Jesus applying his word and obeying it) takes a quality decision!


 example: I have a truck that’s driven by regular gasoline, I have a lifetime supply of that gasoline, I don’t even have to fill it, it fills up by itself. This truck can’t do what I want it do to meet my needs, continually fails. So I know that if I have a diesel truck of which takes diesel fuel I will be complete. Everything I need to do concerning a truck is fulfilled with the diesel. I can’t put regular gasoline in this truck that is run by diesel fuel because the engine would not function and be destroyed, even though I have a lifetime free supply of regular gasoline but not usable for my diesel truck to operate . The parallel is this: when I get born again and have a new nature I must feed this nature with the proper food of which is the word of God. How can our spirits be regenerated with our old mindset rather than the renewing of our mind with the word of God? So how can we be born of God and not being nutritionalised by God’s word??? If we are not renewing our minds with God’s word are we not trying to drive a diesel truck with regular gasoline of which can’t be done? So how do we justify it in the Spirit? How can I be of the spirit of God and walk by the dictates of my flesh, rather than God's word? Is that not deception? It takes a conscious act of your will to press into God’s word and choose to believe and obey him of which changes our mind and lives to the glory of Jesus. I think often times we are proclaiming Christianity without the renewing of our minds with God’s word. Because of not having an understanding of God’s word we avoid pressing in to get understanding and we walk by our carnal nature because it’s comfortable and familiar but it’s a deception of which leads to death. Apart from feeding on God’s word and applying it in our lives, there can be no change. So am I really a new creation in Christ Jesus or am I wanabe? As a Christian and a new creation in Christ Jesus Jesus we will ultimately stumble over our flesh because of the un-renewing of our mind or just plain selfishness but we will not walk our lives out by the dictates of our carnal nature! If I am a new creation in Christ Jesus, I will walk by the dictates of God’s word because I am born into a new kingdom of which has different standards from my old Kingdom (world)! Being taught the truths of God’s word is essential for living a life pleasing to our heavenly father! We become discouraged when we are unlearned in God’s word.God's word says a friend of the world is an enemy of God. When it doesn’t make us comfortable we want to escape to the old familiar comforts of which leaves out the word of God and the opportunity to grow in the truth of Jesus. It’s better to be corrected here even though it’s painful than to be deceived and wrong when the Bell rings! Can we say we are what we eat? (Spiritually speaking)