- araratchurch
- Oct 2, 2022
- 3 min read
“And now I make one more appeal, my dear brothers and sisters. Watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people’s faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught. Stay away from them. Such people are not serving Christ our Lord; they are serving their own personal interests. By smooth talk and glowing words they deceive innocent people.”
Romans 16:17-18 NLT
Old school key rings have been the destruction of many otherwise lovely manicures. Now, whereas I have rarely had lovely nails, I have lost quite a few of them (or portions of the same) to this type of key ring. You know the ones: it’s a circle made of an overlapping, flat, tightly coiled piece of metal. Keys are “threaded” between the two coils and then turned on the ring. Then, presto, the key is on the ring. Actually, this type of key ring is very efficient at keeping keys together without them falling off.
However, this rose has a big thorn. Problem is, generally, in order for the key to start being threaded between the coils, some other object must first be inserted to widen the space between the coils. Only then, can the key get started in. Ah! Bring in the handy dandy all purpose tool known as the fingernail. Sadly, more often than not, the fingernail becomes a casualty in the process. But, the purpose is served, having pried the coils apart enough to allow the insertion of the key.
Now, the best tool for prying two things apart, is actually not the fingernail, but rather, a wedge.
A wedge is a tool made of any number of sturdy materials that has a thick edge tapering to a thin edge. Sometimes the thin edge is sharpened (think ax head) so as to facilitate the process of separation.
One of the most adept at using the wedge is the spirit of deception. The spirit of deception uses some “thin edge” to breach the resolve or defenses of the targeted heart and mind in order to enter in.
There are several thin edges used by deception in order to produce a gap where the lie can be inserted. Among the most popular thin edges used by deception are affection, hurt, entertainment, cravings, weariness or fear.
A common denominator among all of these thin edges is that they override the defense reaction of our inner man. Sadly, even people filled with the Holy Spirit can fall prey to deception if something is a sharp enough edge to cause us to not hear the Holy Spirit or to somehow override what He is saying to us.
“But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.”
James 3:14-16 NLT
In the above scripture James is admonishing Christians for allowing selfish ambition to become the wedge that expands into confusion and then every evil work.
“You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.”
Galatians 5:7-9 NKJV
“Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough?”
1 Corinthians 5:6 NLT
In the above two references the Apostle Paul is using the metaphor of yeast to illustrate how something can start out very small, yet incorporate itself into the whole mind and spirit.
“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”
Proverbs 4:23 NLT
We must stay sensitive to the Holy Spirit and keep our hearts guarded against any wedges the enemy might use to make us believe or operate according to a lie.
I will end today by noting—as the apostle Paul did in our opening scripture—that smooth talk or flattery can also serve as a wedge for deception.
Remember, the enemy of your soul does not want you to be enlightened by the Lord; he would rather that you be living by his lies. And make no mistake, he will do whatever it takes to be able to thread his lies into your heart and mind.
We light a fifth candle of illumination today by knowing this:
Deception enters by means of a wedge.
- araratchurch
- Oct 1, 2022
- 3 min read
“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”
Colossians 3:1-4 NKJV
When I was a young girl I heard a short poem that caught my imagination:
“Two men looked out from prison bars; one saw mud, the other, stars.” (Dale Carnegie)
I don’t know how many times since I first heard this that it has come back to my mind. Hearing it, paints a portrait on the canvas of my mind: two men in cells next to one another, are looking out of their prison bars, each holding tightly with their hands the barrier that now defines their life. One of the men is looking down into the courtyard that has been transformed into a mud pool by a recent rain. The other, has his gaze fixed upward toward the black sky glittering with cosmic wonders. The mind of the man looking at the mud, sees that mud as representing the life that is in front of him. The man looking toward the stars is possibly imagining what it might be like to be soaring among that glorious congregation.
Now, in this poem we are presented with two individuals who are in the very same situation; yet, their situation is not defining the direction of their thinking. I guess this strikes me so strongly—even today—because I have seen it illustrated out many times in my life.
My observation is not limited to the fact that people in the same type of situation, often respond differently, depending on their focus. I have observed that people given very different circumstances, often respond in contradiction to what you would suppose. Again, because of their focus.
For example, I have seen people who had everything you might think a heart could desire, and yet, they were still miserable, full of bitterness, and having no peace. On the other hand, I have seen people who have had circumstances cast upon them that would have broken others, yet, they were neither bitter nor agitated, but rather, peaceful and hopeful.
Our opening scripture is one of my favorites. You see, what truly makes the difference in our lives, is whether our minds are set on things above, or set on the things associated with the world. Sadly, even if everything’s going well in your own life, there’s still enough tragedy and evil going on out there, such that, if that’s where you are looking, you’re going to be miserable.
When considering about how the focus of our thinking makes all the difference, my mind goes back to the scripture about what Jesus’ focus was as He endured suffering beyond what we can imagine.
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.”
Hebrews 12:1-3 NKJV
If we truly want to live a life of enlightenment, if we truly want to deny the bars of this earthly existence control over our hearts and minds, we must set our eyes on the things that are eternal. If we choose to look at mud, the bars have already won.
We light a fourth candle of illumination today by knowing this:
Enlightenment comes to the one who looks up.
- araratchurch
- Sep 30, 2022
- 5 min read
“But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.”
I Corinthians 2:10-11 NKJV
As a young girl I was very interested in what you might call the supernatural. Now, having grown up in a home that was strongly Pentecostal, I knew about the power of God and the reality of the realm of the spirit. Additionally, I was very aware of spiritual activity from a very young age. You might say that I was spiritually “sensitive.”
The problem was that I did not recognize the clear distinction between the things of the Spirit of God and the things of the spirit of darkness. You see, many people (of whom I was one) have the false notion that they will recognize the spirit of darkness because it will be “obviously evil.” Now, whereas there are things in this world that are obviously evil and of darkness, there are things operating out of darkness that look like they are coming from the Light. But, they are not.
“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.”
II Corinthians 11:13-15 NKJV
In the above scripture the apostle Paul is warning the church at Corinth about false teaching that sounds like it’s from the Lord, but is from Satan.
So, my interest in spiritual things really could have taken me where I did not need to go, and in actuality, it very nearly did.
When I was about 15 or 16 years old I had a dreaming vision in which I was standing in a very misty field. I saw—coming through the mist toward me—three individuals with black robes and pointed hoods. One was walking out in front of the other two and was the one who spoke. They came to a split rail fence between us and stopped. The one in front spoke to me and said, “We have come to take your soul.” Now, you talk about waking up quickly, I did! I thought that this was a terrible nightmare, but it was more than that. I do believe it was showing the reality of what the enemy wanted—not only to do in my case—but to everyone. And make no mistake, the enemy will come in whatever disguise he needs to come, to get your attention, to find a place in you where he can put a hook. And for me, that place was my interest in “spiritual phenomenon.” I enjoyed hearing about research on ESP, telekinesis, transcendental meditation, etc., not realizing that that is taught from Satan’s university.
Now don’t misunderstand me, I never delved into any of these things, but they caught my interest. I know—beyond a shadow of a doubt—that the Lord kept me from going beyond an interest into participation.
“For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
II Timothy 3:6-7 NKJV
In the above scripture Paul warns Timothy that one of the aspects of the perilous Last Days would be that people would become easily deceived by their desire to be “always learning.”
“For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.”
Acts 17:21 NKJV
This scripture from Acts explains that the Athenians had become consumed with wanting to know some (any) “new” thing.
““Write this letter to the angel of the church in Pergamum. This is the message from the one with the sharp two-edged sword: “But I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin. In a similar way, you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching. Repent of your sin, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.”
Revelation 2:12, 14-16 NLT
The Lord, in His admonition to the church at Pergamum, says that He is going to destroy those who do not step away from the teaching of the Nicolaitans who were mixing the ways of Satan in with the ways of God.
Additionally, the Lord, in His message to the church at Thyatira, admonished them for allowing a certain “Jezebel” to teach them to do sinful things under the guise of walking according to “deeper truths.”
““But I also have a message for the rest of you in Thyatira who have not followed this false teaching (‘deeper truths,’ as they call them—depths of Satan, actually). I will ask nothing more of you except that you hold tightly to what you have until I come.”
Revelation 2:24-25 NLT
Make no mistake, there is nothing we need to know or find out from the powers coming from darkness. Indeed, we are to walk far away from that persuasion.
“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.””
II Corinthians 6:14-16 NKJV
Sadly, many Christians, in their desire to be more “spiritual,” fall prey to things of darkness masquerading as “deeper truth” or “new revelation.” They basically approach their spiritual development as though they were standing at a smorgasbord from which they can choose a little of this from the world, a little of that from the world, a little from Mr. or Ms. So-Called-Prophet, and, oh yes, let me finish off with a word from the Lord. But, the fact is, the Lord will not allow Himself to be relegated to one of many sources of “truth.”
Now, just like myself when I was younger, you may not be aware of looking into the things of darkness. But, your only defense against doing so is to let your spiritual journey ALWAYS be led by the Holy Spirit of God. Remember, the Lord will not long allow His Spirit to be mixed in with the spirit of this world; indeed, He will withdraw His Spirit from the one who chooses to indulge in the “truths” found in darkness.
We light a third candle of illumination today by knowing this:
The deep things of God will never be found in darkness.