Proverbs 21:15 “Justice is a joy to the godly, but it terrifies evildoers.”
This is so true today, all you have to do is listen and watch our politicians and the media. They are terrified about the truth; that they are willing to accept hear say to convict. They are willing to give up on the truth that you are innocent until proven guilty.
Proverbs 19:18 “Discipline your children while there is hope. Otherwise you will ruin their lives.”
We are seeing this lived out today in America’s younger generation of university students on down to elementary ages – those who were and are being raised by a village; a village of their peers, their school teachers and a government with policies promising to meet all your needs. Pitiful!
We are seeing it because in most homes today there is no parental wisdom and proper discipline that protects children growing up so they can become disciplined and productive adults, people with good character and who are truly worthy of being America’s leaders.
The way we think and live mostly comes from how we were brought up as a child with the environment and home we lived in, and with the teaching we received. What you start out believing and living is mostly rooted in what your parents believe and how they lived. We may not have had the right upbringing, but if God has included you into His holy family He is committed to heal all the wrong that has influenced you or been done to you, and to guide you in His love and righteousness.
By your faithful commitment to walk with Jesus Christ, our Father is committed to how your life turns out and what you become. His Holy Spirit is perfectly committed to make sure you see, desire and accomplish the will of God for your life. No one else but Father God has our best at heart and works for our good future.
The Father is working in both you and your husband (even if you have not yet met your husband) to become the perfect match. Of course at the start, the two of you will struggle in the process of becoming one, but the Spirit of God is determined to help a husband and wife see what’s in their way of becoming one in Christ, and then provide them with the power to overcome.
“Jesus must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.” John 3:30
You can read Psalms 112 along with Proverbs 31:10-31 for God’s description of the perfect match, in my opinion.
Although two people are ‘imperfect’ people, they are the perfect match if God brought them together. God brought me and my husband together in a nightclub before either of us genuinely gave our heart to Christ. We had very different upbringings.
Godly men who marry ungodly women, or godly women who marry ungodly men all find out eventually the conflict and heartache that comes from not being ‘equally yoked’ in what you believe about Jesus Christ and how you see the vows you make to one another.
God hates divorce, because He hates the self-righteousness of unforgiveness far more. When divorced couples move on to another relationship or marriage without seeing and confessing their own fault in why their marriage failed, they take that ignorance into the next relationship.
Separation, instead of divorce, is a good way to work on ourselves! We naturally want to blame the other person for our marriage failing, but it takes two to ruin a marriage. Do not be self-deceived! Make yourself live by Christ’s principles, not the world’s.
God is looking for husbands and wives He can pour out all His favor on to distinguish them from other husbands and wives that are quick to give up and move on. God is looking for marriages to bless and set up as good examples so that people will take notice and be drawn to how God blesses the humble and faithful.
God’s grace and standard has never changed and He is eager to bless the homes of the faithful where His grace is experienced and His standard honored, the best they know how. When He finds a home like this He is very pleased to bless that family. It’s all in God’s design with His promises.
Any imperfect match can become the ‘perfect’ match because “with God all things are possible to them that believe.” “Faith is the only thing that pleases God.” “The only thing that matters is faith expressing itself through love.” “Without love – I am nothing!” “Love never fails.” “Perfect love casts out all fear.” (All verses from God’s Word.)
God is love. Love comes from God. God created man because He wanted to express His love and have children to love Him back! “We love because He first loved us.” (Again His Word.) So go to God for how you need to love your husband and children. (Or husband, how you need to love your wife.)
Be wise and wait for God to show you the right person to marry so that the two of you become one in all things holy to the Lord. God’s purpose in every marriage is to reflect the true family and produce godly children, generation after generation without end. The family of God is eternal!
TRUTH TRIUMPHS OVER TYRANTS 1400-1650 AD
John 8:32 “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
During this time period a new group of liberators were being raised up that would change, not only the course of history, but bring in principles that would enhance and change Western civilization. These liberators were men like Martin Luther, John Calvin, Tyndale, Swingli and many others.
They were men of conviction. Their faith in the Lord was not a preference, something they preferred over other faiths, but their faith was a conviction. It was in their very fiber of who they were. The difference between a faith that is a preference and one that is a conviction is that a preference can be changed if enough pressure is brought to bear upon the person. A person with a faith that is a conviction is unchangeable, if necessary is willing to stand alone; the matter is non-negotiable and they do not need to be assured of success before they stand. These were the men that God was raising up ‘for such a time as this.’
Martin Luther was brought before the “diet of Worms.” Worms is a city in Germany. The Emperor of Germany held a council in the city of Worms. These council meetings were called a “diet” (from the Latin word “dies,” meaning day) because originally the meetings lasted for one day. Here is what Luther said: “Since your Majesty and your Lordships desire a simple reply, I will answer unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason, I do not accept the authority of popes or councils, for they have contradicted each other. My conscience is bound by the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything; to go against conscience is not right or safe. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. So help me, God. Amen.”
It was also during this time that the printing press was invented and this helped to speed up the Word of God in being released. It was seen to be more powerful than sword or any army that ever marched. The Truth was being discovered and the Truth is what sets us free. Within 30 years a good part of Europe had become Protestants.
At the dawn of the 17th century despotic tyrants were still trying to hang onto their thrones, but the people had a new light that was beginning to shine into the darkest places in the most corrupt cities. This new light was being preached in pulpits throughout Geneva, Edinburgh and England and it was setting the people free.
This freedom did not come without a cost. Bodies were burned and tortured. Thousands were exiled and, in some places, whole towns were annihilated by those who were trying to put out the Holy Spirit fire. However, when England was at its worst, a new reformation was being started. John Knox, as a galley slave, looked out and said: “Give me Scotland or I die.” The Word of God was more powerful in the hearts of these men than the tyranny of the king.
When we trace the advancement of the Kingdom we see the ministry of the Holy Spirit. John Knox discipled John Witherspoon and it was Witherspoon who discipled some of our founding fathers here in America. A foundation was being built over a period of 1700 years.
A strategy that was used then to bring Reformation is also the strategy that we can use now to bring in Reformation today. Not compromising but going out as conquerors in Christ.
Are any of you thinking, or even threatening to divorce the one you married? What was your relationship with God at the time you married your spouse?
Was your marriage God-approved, God-arranged, God-anointed? How do you know? Not every marriage is God-approved, God-arranged, God anointed. We know from God’s Word that a Bible believing Christian is NOT to marry an unbeliever because of two opposing spirits, (2 Corinthians 6:14) that will eventually come to serious family problems. This is not God’s will for His children. His will for our marriage and family is to honor God and be a “pillar in society” for His purpose of what a true marriage and family is and that He can bless and protect and provide for.
Yet we are also taught in God’s Word that an unbeliever could become a believer – being married to a faithful Christian. (1 Peter 3:1) Sometimes one becomes a born-again Christian after the wedding day, and then what? Do you divorce? No. You follow the teachings of Christ about faith, hope and love, and pray for your spouse, no matter how long it requires. You’ll have to stand against certain things you used to do that you’ve repented, but we learn from the Lord how to lovingly shun evil, not in judgment nor resentment.
Jesus a.k.a. the “Living Word of God,” teaches God’s will about marriage. He said that the law of Moses on adultery which allowed a man to divorce his wife, was allowed BECAUSE OF THE HARDNESS OF THE MAN’S HEART. (Mark 10:5) What did Jesus mean by “hardness?” What changes a “hard heart?” The Holy Spirit changes the heart – when we ask Jesus Christ to live in us. God gives us a new heart. So many things about us begin to change with God’s Spirit and Word living in us.
This “hardness of heart” a man has when his wife is drawn to another man (or visa versa) for whatever reason, is shamed by Jesus: “In the beginning God made them male and female. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So, they are no longer two, but one flesh. THEREFORE, WHAT GOD HAS JOINED TOGETHER, LET NO ONE SEPARATE.” Mark 10:6-9
I’ve always had a hard time with what Jesus says about divorce and marrying someone else; that it is adultery in God’s eyes. But it hit me this morning when reading this passage again, that not all marriages are God-approved, God-arranged and God-anointed. In God’s eyes, IF HE HAS JOINED THE TWO TOGETHER, then to divorce and marry someone else is to commit adultery as far as He is concerned. But like any sin, Jesus can forgive it by our faith in Him.
So, what do you do when your spouse is drawn to someone else, and wanting a divorce? What do you do when your spouse wishes he’d/she’d had never married you? What do you do when your wife refuses sexual relations with you? What do you do when your husband has a sexual affair with someone else? What do you do when your wife tries to counsel you in what a man should be, or when she uses God’s Word to correct you, or in her own way – tries to encourage you by telling you how God sees you? What do you do when your husband calls you a bitch, or a narcissist or the devil? Even if you “think” these kinds of things towards your spouse, not speaking it out, God DOES hear it – He’s paying attention to the marriages that He has arranged and approved of for a good purpose.
It doesn’t matter to God what your problem is with your husband or wife, He has one solution: GET RIGHT WITH THE SAVIOR WHO DIED IN YOUR PLACE, AND DIE TO YOURSELF AS YOU OBEY HIS PRINCIPLES FOR RELATIONSHIPS.
Jesus lived 33 years on the earth so that we could learn from Him how to think and live, how to forgive and pray and press on.
As a wife – we learn from the Holy Spirit (who is the Lord’s helpmate) how to be “quiet and gentle” with your husband as his helpmate in what God has called him to do. As a husband – learn from Jesus how to look to God and obey what He says to do, and how treat your wife – seeing her as your beautiful bride no matter how long you’ve been married; treating your wife as you favorably treat your own body. And for both, consider each other’s interests as important as your own. Learn to listen and communicate without blaming; humbly discuss your differences and concerns, and most important, learn to pray together for God’s perfect and acceptable will to follow.
AND REMEMBER GOD’S line of authority: The LORD JESUS is the head of the man, and the man is the head of his wife, and their children learn to lovingly serve their father by how their mother serves and honors her husband, their father.
Now of course, if your husband or wife is physically abusive threatening lives – then God is clear on this: Separate and turn that one over to law-enforcement and the judges of the land to deal with your hostile spouse. Pray for the salvation of your spouse. Trust God. Wait on the Lord to answer your prayers.
Has God Blessed You?
Reading in Numbers chapters 22-24, and thinking about the power of God’s blessing on His people, here being Israel, but how God chose to also bless the disciples of Jesus Christ a.k.a Christ’s Spirit-filled Church. I began to ponder “the blessing” on me and my family, and all those who are “in Christ Jesus.” Oh what JOY fills my heart to know that because of my faith, hope and love in the eternal life and sacrifice of my Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, my Father God has nothing but blessing after blessing for us; that NO CURSE of the devil and his cohorts (people Satan works through) can touch us, nor change the future we have in Christ Jesus! For our Father God has said,
“Their sins and lawless acts I will remember NO MORE!…and since we have the Great Priest (Jesus Christ) over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with full assurance that our faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for HE who PROMISED is FAITHFUL.” Hebrews 10:16-23
Even when my Father God disciplines me – it’s a BLESSING! Painful at the time – YES! But His discipline always produces in me His righteousness and godly character. His painful rod of loving discipline – is His love and reward in my life. This is the power of His love, His perfect love that casts out all my fears!
The account of King Balak summoning the prophet Balaam to curse God’s people for moving through his territory on their way to the land God promised them – relates to God’s people today on the earth living in the world’s nations under the rule of leaders who have rejected the One True God, our time on earth as a “pilgrimage” to our heavenly Promised Land. For Christ promised us that where HE IS we shall also be FOREVER! But for now, we, as it was said of Abraham who pilgrimed through as a stranger in a foreign land – we also look forward to the City with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. (Hebrews 11:8-10)
King Balak wanted God’s people cursed by Balaam because Balak feared them. “Come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land.” (Numbers 22: 6) Is this not what we see happening all over the world today with God’s people (both Jew and Christian) hated because of God’s favor on us because of His Son’s truth and light in us?
John 3:19-20 “The LIGHT has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the LIGHT because their deeds are evil. Everyone who does evil hates the LIGHT.” 2 Corinthians 6:14 “Do not be unequally with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or, what fellowship does light have with the darkness?”
This is the world of the devil’s, and he is determined to destroy God’s people and in doing so – having nothing in his way to rule over this whole world. And, God will give Satan his day in the sun, although a short 7 years. BUT, as we learn in the account of Balaam: Whom God has blessed it is IMPOSSIBLE for any curse to rest on those whom God Himself has blessed with every blessing He has to give.
This story is very powerful and encouraging to us as God’s ‘faithful’ people, that no matter what we must suffer and endure – WE ARE BLESSED WITH EVERY BLESSING FROM GOD! Even in death, we are BLESSED if we are “in Christ Jesus” safe and secure for the eternity God has prepared for those who love Him.
The Lord met with the prophet Balaam and gave him this message with which to go back and give to King Balak: “God is not human, that HE should ever lie, not a human being, that HE should ever change His mind. Does God speak and then not act? Does God promise and not fulfill? I have received a COMMAND TO BLESS; HE HAS blessed, and I cannot change it! The LORD their God is with them; the shout of the KING is among them.” (Numbers 23:19-20) “How can I curse those whom God has NOT cursed?… I see a people who live apart for God blessed, and do not consider themselves of the nations ((whom God has not blessed).” (Numbers 23:8-9)
Then King Balak, in an outrage, said to Balaam: “I summoned you to curse my enemies, but you have blessed them these three times. Now leave at once and go home! I said I would reward you handsomely, but the Lord has kept you from being rewarded.” (Numbers 24:10-11) Oh really? We might be rewarded by the world, for conforming to their ideologies and idolatries, but the REWARD that awaits the FAITHFUL in Christ, is far GREATER for it is ETERNAL!
2 Corinthians 4:17 “For our light and temporary affliction is producing for us an eternal glory that far outweighs it all.”
And now my favorite part: Balaam answered Balak: “Did I not say, even if you gave me all the silver and gold in your palace, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond GOD’s COMMAND – and must only say what the LORD says of His people? Now I am going back to my people, but hear the warning of what God’s people will do to your people in the days to come.” (Numbers 24:10-14) Then Balaam delivers 4 messages (curses) from the LORD about their future destruction.
God has said in His Word what will happen to Satan and all the kingdoms of the world, and God’s wrath and curse on evil rebellion to His Son – will be carried out perfectly, just as God’s blessing and promises for His people will be carried out perfectly with both His Son’s ‘first and second’ coming to the earth.
HALLELUJAH TO THE LAMB! GLORY TO OUR ETERNAL KING!
More and more American citizens are seeking to know the truth about America’s beginnings and improving life for all people living here under our laws and within a culture of freedom with justice for all. More and more patriot parents making sure their children know the truth about the nation they live in, so they can also stand up in unity for the truth as to why America has so been so very blessed by God, unlike any other nation in the world.
Over 500 years ago, Christians in England were being put in prison and even killed because they would not obey the government under King James the first, with his demand of how to worship God the old Roman Catholic way. The people were not free to worship God by their own convictions from God.
Today in America we’ve been seeing one part of our government at work against our religious freedom – and is why our President Donald Trump, along with God-fearing state senators, governors and mayors have all stood up to that ‘evil’ part of our government, to show them we will no longer put up with that because unlike the Pilgrims we have no other unsettled land of the earth to go, and is why we MUST stand up to this evil – the way God has said we should.
There in England over 500 years ago, were a group of people called “separatists” who ran off to Holland and formed a community of their own. Eleven years later about 40 of them (led by God) decided to make a dangerous journey to what they called the “New World,” and what was established as “America.” To these Christian separatists it was worth the danger they would face, because they wanted to live freely to prosper with their families and worship God the way they believed. So, on August 1, 1620 they all set sail on the Mayflower.
There were other people on the ship besides the 40 of them, a total of 102 passengers. A man named William Bradford led the 40 pilgrims in their journey here. All the pilgrims agreed and signed their first contract for themselves as to how they would live in the New World, and this contract was called the “Mayflower Compact.”
These Pilgrims were strong Bible believing people, with a deep desire to live the way God says to live and is why America’s first schools taught the Bible, as the most important of all books. Back then, parents dictated what was taught to their children in school. Schools were an extension of parental control, which is being attacked today to give the government control of what children are taught.
Prayer began each day of school in America’s early days, thanking God for His providence in their New World of freedom. Today we see the shocking consequences and deathly results of both Bible and Prayer being kicked out of government funded schools.
The Pilgrim’s journey on the tiny ship Mayflower was so very hard on the Pilgrims, but they made it WITH GOD’S POWERFUL WILL.
In November 1620, the Pilgrims landed in what they called New England, which back then was a cold wintry uncivilized wilderness. The great sacrifice for their freedom had just begun!
Half of the 40 Pilgrims died of starvation and sickness. When Spring came there were Indians who came to welcome them and teach them how to plant corn, fish for Cod and how to skin beavers for coats. Life then got a little better for the Pilgrims. The pilgrims needed the families back home to help them, which they did through the London Bank, by sending them things by ship.
In the first contract, they formed how they would live in this New World, they quickly found out after one year, that it didn’t work where nobody owned anything of their own, and what they produced was put in what they called a “common store” where it was equally given to all the people. William Bradford, the first governor, called this “collectivism,” where no one had more than anyone else. It did not lead to people prospering on their own.
Today, we call this “socialism,” that part of our government has been working to establish in America. Socialism has never worked, and we’ve seen why in other nations where the people are suffering while their government keeps taking what they have, to do what they want with.
When everybody if forced to get the same, what happens is that people get lazy and then expect their needs to keep being met. This is what we see happening in America today, where those who work hard, and are forced to pay increasing taxes. The government is not meant to “meet people’s needs,” because then people look to the government as their God. God meets our needs! He is the one who shows us how to prosper with our abilities, and then we are to freely help others do the same, without the government in our way.
So, William Bradford began to use godly wisdom, and he assigned a plot of land to each family to work and manage, and whatever they produced was theirs. This began the “power of the marketplace” where people traded with each other for what they needed. And it worked! We call it “Capitalism” where people are free to start businesses to help each other live a better life, buying and selling from each other in all areas of our lives.
Socialism is the enemy of Capitalism.
The Pilgrims quickly prospered by this godly principle and so they lived happier lives with their families. God tells us that whatever our hands find to do that produces good – do it with all your might, and He will bless it. The Pilgrims learned this!
And here is where the first Thanksgiving has its meaning. They had so much more than any of them needed, they decided to have a “gratitude winter” with the Indians where they shared all their bounty with the Indians. The Pilgrims thanked God for all they learned and for the courage and strength to keep going through all their extremely hard times.
The Pilgrims then set up “trading posts” and exchanged their goods, and with the Indians as well trading what the Indians produced with their own hands. The Pilgrims were then able to pay back their loans back home in London.
The success of the Pilgrims attracted more people from Europe who came to the New World. This migration was called the “Great Puritan Migration.” Lots of people started coming over in ships to both prosper and worship God freely. These Pilgrims had the faith in God to keep going even though so many suffered and died.
America’s FIRST “heroes” were not the Indians, but rather the God-fearing faithful Pilgrims who persevered with God for this nation that people from all over the world have come to ‘legally’ live in with their families. The true stories of ‘legal law-abiding’ immigrants should be more publicized than the stories (many made-up) of ‘illegal law-breaking’ aliens. “Alien” to mean that they come to America to abuse our systems, and to challenge our Constitutional way of life with hostile protesting and threat of destruction.
The story of the Pilgrims goes on, but this is why we should celebrate Thanksgiving. This is what all NEW American citizens should be taught, as well as all children in school and at home. Thanksgiving is an ‘American’ tradition of giving God what is due to Him. Those who hate the God of the Bible, and are here (legally or illegally) to pervert our heritage and change our godly laws and justice system – need to leave.
In our public schools today children are taught that the Pilgrims ‘gave thanks’ to the Indians for saving their lives, but that’s NOT what it was. Thanksgiving is our expression of thanksgiving to GOD for how He kept the Pilgrims going and why we can enjoy our lives in America, the Brave and Free!
THE DELUSION OF THE ‘DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS’ (1400 – 1650 AD)
1 Samuel 8:4-5 “So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, ‘You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.’”
The Bible tells us that we should not be ignorant of the devil’s devices. The mustard seed that was sown in the little obscure village in Palestine had grown by the 16th century and like a mighty oak; its roots were deep. No external pagan force could stand against it so the Prince of Darkness resorted to send forth his minions as counterfeit angels of light robed in righteousness. This evil delusion was the “Divine Right of Kings.”
Just like God warned the Children of Israel in what would happen if they appointed a king over them, so we see that these powerful monarchs did as God said would happen. Eventually they ignored the rights of the people, confiscated their land as well as weapons and forced them into their armies of conquest.
“Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do. He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. And others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.” (Vs. 9, 11, 13-17)
During this time we see the tares being manifested. This was a time that the church was in a decline for almost 200 years. A new paganism was coming in, but not like the pagans of old because they were coming in with religious Christianity garb. Like one of the princes said: “To be successful you must use fear and expedience and not governed by principle. It is safer to be feared than to be loved.” This was the thought that governed those in power during this period.
Basically the “Divine Right of Kings” was a political and religious doctrine of royal absolutism. It asserted that a king is subject to no earthly authority and his right to rule came directly from God. To go against the king and his rule would be to go against God Himself.
During this time there had been a revival of intellectual growth, but education among the common people had not changed. People on a whole were illiterate and not able to read the Bible. We find that monarchs, leading men/women of society, church leaders could make decisions that were even contrary to Biblical teaching, but the common people would not know what the Bible said and so who were they to confront the leadership on decisions that were made.
Eventually this ignorance allowed the monarchy to claim ultimate sovereignty over their land and impose laws and restrictions upon their people in the name of God. Some of the rulers, like James the First, used the “Divine Right of Kings” in a positive way to help the people, but most used it to push their own agenda and fortunes.
Theologically we know that no human being can have or obtain ultimate authority. Only God is truly sovereign. But when there is a lack of Biblical knowledge among the people this authority is not questioned. People assumed that the leaders were telling the truth.
One of the reasons for these weeklies is to look at history and see what we can learn from it. When I take a look at Western Civilization today I see where government has taken the “Divine Right of Kings.” It is not using that title, but the authority is there.
Here in the States we have what is known as “Eminent Domain” where land can be confiscated by the government if it can be used for, what they think might be, the common good.
We now are getting what we call “hate speech laws” where if we were to preach the whole truth of the Word of God some of it is now labeled “hate speech.” We see a ‘dummy-down syndrome’ in our education – especially here in the States – not only in Biblical knowledge, but also in knowledge of our own history and the principles that our country was built upon.
Western civilization (this includes the USA) is moving toward a system where a select elite group will rule and the rest are slaves. Let us learn from the past so that we will not repeat the mistakes in the future.
Our culture is not our conscience; just as our government is not our God.
Remember this OLD saying? “Let your conscience be your guide.”
Can you trust your conscience? Where does my conscience come from? What is the conscience for? Why do you secretly feel guilty when you do or say something? Our conscience is a guard for us.
Can you trust your heart? I hear people say, “Trust your heart. What is your heart saying?” God teaches us that “the heart is deceptively evil,” and that we don’t know just how evil our hearts are. So, I would assume then that the heart and the conscience are not the same.
When you came to believe in Jesus Christ, did you pray something like this? “Jesus, forgive me and come into my heart.” Why the heart? Because God says that we “sinners” need a “new” heart, and one like His Son’s.
I would say that the conscience has to do with the mind and knowing what God wants us to know for our good future with Him; while the heart has to do with our natural sin-nature, with our own worldly and fleshly desires – that wars against God’s Spirit that begins to live in us.
The soul has been referred to as the mind and heart, that of knowing and desiring, which are eternal like our spirit. Everything about us, except our physical body, will live forever but must be “born-again.”
What does the Bible say about our conscience?
A word that often replaces the word ‘conscience’ in the Bible is “integrity.” (Genesis 20:6) Our conscience testifies inwardly to us about our conduct. (2 Corinthians 1:12)
Our conscience convicts us of wrong-doing, or of disobeying God’s call on our life or any of His laws for all of life. (Hebrews 10:22)
1 Corinthians 10:23-33 teaches us that one person’s conscience can be free to do things that another person’s conscience doesn’t allow them that same freedom. Why? Well, for many reasons. Maybe for health issues. Or, because of your little children, or younger ones in the Lord, always watching what you do that they are not yet able to do with self-control, modesty and concern for others. But what the important thing is here, that although we have rights and freedoms from God, no one should seek their own good, but the good of others.
Your conscience does not find you guilty when doing or eating something that someone else’s conscience won’t allow them to do or eat. Why? It depends on what you know so far that God has told you, because our conscience comes from Him.
What is so very sad, and evil, is how the devil is able to convince people that good is evil and evil is good, so that they no longer feel the inner guilt of a sensitive conscience. Here is where we end up with a dead conscience or hardened one, useless. But, when we come to Jesus and ask Him to forgive us and live in us by His Holy Spirit and Word of Life – our conscience is restored, and our heart made new. (Hebrews 10:22)
Our conscience can be attacked by worldly teachings that oppose God’s truth and will for our lives. (Hebrews 13:7-8) If we ignore our good conscience over and over – even our faith in Jesus Christ will suffer harm, as Jesus taught in many of His parables. We are told to “hold on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and thereby shipwrecked their faith.” 1 Timothy 1:18-19
Why do people NOT feel guilty to, let’s say, kill people who believe differently, or to kill a baby in the womb, or to prevent someone from talking openly about Jesus Christ, or to take property or possessions that don’t belong to you, or to directly get in someone’s way to anger them, or to make up a lie about someone, or lie about something you did or didn’t do, or to expect payment for work you didn’t do, or to go after someone else’s spouse, or to have sexual relations with the same sex, or with a child or an animal? Why?
“Now the Holy Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teaching of demons, influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences are seared as with a hot iron.” 1 Timothy 4:1-2
Feelings and gut-felt intuition are NOT to be followed. When we keep ignoring our good conscience – our conscience becomes dull and then all together dead and ineffective for what God gave it to us for. That is why people do the most detestable and grossest inhumane things to other people without feeling remorseful, even believing they are right in doing such things.
The ‘culture’ of a society can lose its good conscience as well when that society of people no longer have a God-fearing conscience. We see the result of a society’s seared conscience in the Bible’s records, one being why God flooded the earth keeping only Noah and his family alive to start over. We see this with God’s destruction of all the people in Sodom and Gomorrah except for Lot and his family who would not conform to homosexuality nor obey their demands. “The thoughts of men were evil all the time.”
God will forgive anyone, in Christ Jesus alone! God will return and restore to Himself what the devil stole and tried to use for destruction and self-glory. By God’s Spirit, God pours His love into the heart of the one who repents before the Savior Jesus Christ, who died in our place to remove our guilty stain of sin and rebellion to God.
The mighty love of God can transform our whole being and make us ready for eternity with Him! There is NO love like the love of God!
No Hope?
Today there are so many people who have no hope. They think that the world as they know it is falling apart. They are upset over the fact that Donald Trump is our president, fearful that we will go back to a time when there was a different type of hope.
The hope of the past was not in man, but in God. When your only hope is in man – you are hopeless; for man can not bring anyone hope and peace. Hope that is true hope – can only come from the One who created the world and set the future for man. Listen to, and heed what He says and you just might feel God’s hope – blessing you!
So this Thanksgiving I want to encourage you to have the hope that comes from God! If you continue to put your hope in any man or woman, or government, or religion, then it will result as having a false hope; you will be gravely disappointed.
False hope has no other result than anxiousness, frustration, unforgiveness, anger and turmoil, even resulting in sickness and deep depression. But, when God and His Word is your hope, it does not matter what man does or does not do, because man cannot affect eternity. Man can not upset true hope from God.