What is The Curse?

 What is The Curse?

A Lesson on God's Curse.

In the Bible, in the book of Genesis the 3^rd chapter we see that God curses the Earth.

 

We need to clarify what this is and what it is not. Because there is a ton of truth that impacts our daily lives which stems from this event.

Let’s lay down some facts before we get to the curse, because you must understand some things in order to see what has happened.

First, God created everything good. Because God is love and God is good. This is a fact. We might not understand it, because we are fallen. We cannot understand God’s ways. But He is good and love. The definition of love in Gods eyes can be found throughout the Bible. I Corinthians chapter 13 is a good place to find it. Also, the fact that God left a beautiful heaven and came to terrible Earth Himself, to die an awful death to save people who hate Him. Is the paramount, vision of love.

You have to understand this in order to see what the scriptures are saying. Accepting that God is good and that He is love and that He loves us is very important. When Satan tempted Eve, he got her to doubt God’s goodness and love.

So, He created everything good. And because of love He gave us and the angels free will. In order to have free will you must have a choice. God could have created everything to love Him, but that’s not truth or real love. So, there must be free will. Forced love is not real love. There must be the option to choose something else.

The choice for humans was the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil placed in the garden with them. God warned them not to eat of it. They had everything they needed. That’s God. He takes care of His creation. There was nothing missing in the lives of Adam and Eve. They were also created good. In God’s good creation.

God warned them, “On the day you eat of it you shall surely die.” This shows that death existed, but was not in the world. There was no death at this time. Understand that nothing God creates can be destroyed. He is God. He is good. Death is not an end or destruction. It is a separation to a different place and a different form. Death is separation from God and from each other. (This is to stop the spread of Sin.) If we are made righteous by God, then we go to Paradise to be with Him. If not, then we are separated to the quarantine garbage dump of Hell or Hades. Then the Lake of Fire.

It needs to be said that time is different with God. And that time is not fully explained in the scriptures. God created everything in 6 days, then rested on the 7^th. That’s a fact. But we do not know how long things sat after creation.

We know that Satan fell because he desired to be as the most high God. How long did that take? How long till he made that decision? This fact proves that angels and other spiritual being have free will the same as humans. Because they fell. Love requires free will.

Next, we see Adam and Eve in the Garden. How long were they there before the fall? We know that Adam had time to name all the animals before Eve was even created. How long did that take? Then, after Eve was created, how much time did they spend together until the fall?

We also do not know what affect death had on the Earth. Nothing died until death entered. Then, things started to die slowly. People lived for hundreds of years.

Which brings us back to the fall.

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So, Satan in the form of a Serpent/Dragon/Dinosaur came to Eve and got her to eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

The scriptures tell us exactly what happened. That is what happened.

We have heard all kinds of speculation on what happened and who was to blame and all of that. I’m not going to get into that.

What we can see is that Satan caused Eve to doubt God’s Goodness and Love. He got her to think that God was withholding something from her. That God was oppressing her in some way. He got her to doubt God’s Word. This is the foundation and the blue print for false teaching.

Eve responded by trying to be morally superior. She quoted God. “Do not eat of it” then added her own religion to it. “Or even touch it.”. we do not know if the addition was from her or if it’s what Adam told her, because she was not present when God gave the initial warning.

Anyway, we see false teaching and religion on display here.

So, she eats, and gives it to her husband to eat. Now we don’t know how this actually worked. We envision that they were together, when this happened, but Adam could have been somewhere else doing the job God called Him to do. We don’t know.

The Bible says that Eve was deceived by Satan but Adam was not deceived. This will be explained by God at the curse, despite all the accusations given by preachers over the years.

So, they both ate.

And their eyes were opened and they saw they were naked.

Now understand some things. Before they ate, they did not see a problem with the state they were in. They were happy. All their needs were met, they were in relationship with God and they did not see a problem.

But after eating they discovered they were naked, and were ashamed and covered their nakedness with leaves.

God created nakedness. There is nothing wrong with nakedness. The story is speaking of spiritual truth. It is a picture of our fallen state. We as humans see our problem. We see our failure, and we create rules and religions to cover it.

When they ate of the fruit they died spiritually and became separated from God in spirit. This is the state of all humanity. We are separated from God and the things of the Spirit realm beyond the veil. God removed them from the Garden. They and us no longer had access to Him or real spiritual things.

Remember, God said… “On The Day you eat of it you shall surely die.”  But Adam did not die that day. He died 900+ years later. This is why Peter says that God’s days are a thousand years. (2 Pet. 3:8)

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So, God comes to find his children who have fallen. He knows they have fallen but He wants them to confess. This is very important, because our confession to Him and our admission of our state is part of our salvation. We must be real with God, and let Him take care of us.

So, God covers them with coats of skins. The Bible does not say where these skins came from or what they are. But it is a picture of God covering us with Christ. Not our man-made religions.

So, all of this was said to set us up to look at the curse. I’m going to post the verses here, then put commentary within.

First, realize that this is what the curse says. Death and Sin is not part of the curse. Disease is not part of the curse. Poverty is not part of the curse. God did not do that to us. Those things are the results of living in a world ruined by Death, Satan, The Plague of Sin and the Fallen world. Not the curse. The curse is very specific, and was designed by God to save us and bring us back to Him. This is important to see.

¹⁴ And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

Have you seen any dragons or dinosaurs lately? No. All you see are reptiles, that crawl mostly on their belly. Not massive proud beasts. Humans lived with dinosaurs in the garden and after, when we were run out of the Garden of God. Dinosaurs existed up to and a little after the Flood. This is the curse on the Serpent, or Hisser in Hebrew. The next part of the curse transitions from physical to spiritual to prophetic.

¹⁵ And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

We see the physical aspect. There is a feeling of dread between reptiles and many women. This also goes on for generations. We see this and it’s truth of what God’s Word says. But it transitions into the spiritual. Because the Serpent is Satan, and the Woman is the Church. Or the believers made righteous in Christ by God. We are at war with the forces of the fallen angels. This war continues with every person who gets saved. The last part is a prophecy about Christ. He will crush the head of the enemy. This happened at the cross and will happen when he returns and ends it all. Remember, God is speaking to the Serpent and Satan here. The message is to him.

Next God speaks to the Woman.

¹⁶ Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

Now understand that we again transition from physical to spiritual. This is very important to catch. First, the physical is plainly speaking of a woman’s concern for the family and the things of the family. She is a nurturer and has a heart that strikes her differently. Remember she was created to be a help meet for Adam. (I realize that in this day and age we want to avoid saying “All Women” do this. But, yes, in this fallen world, things do get confused). Then, we see the pain in child birth and the suffering of motherhood and caring for children. The heart breakings that go with motherhood. The concern for the children. Then, we see that she will desire to help her husband, she is his help meet. But her sinful nature will cause her to desire to rule over him, and he instead will rule over her. It’s the battle of the sexes. Both men and women have corrupted natures that cause us to be prideful, angry and not listen to each other. Before the Fall it was not this way.

Ok, now we transition toward the spiritual, because why would God do this? He’s God. He is Good and Love. His nature doesn’t change. So, this is not punishment, as some like to believe. It serves a loving purpose.

This was designed by God to cause her to seek help. Help from who? Well, hopefully help from God. The woman’s desire to protect her children and family was designed to cause her to turn to God and be saved and pray for her children and to get them saved as well. And to try to minister to her husband. See? As it says in first Timothy chapter two; that she is saved through child rearing. (1 Timothy 2:15) We know that we are not saved by works (Eph 2) so, being saved through child bearing must imply that some aspect of raising and having children will draw the mother to God. In context this seems to be accurate.

Now we look at the spiritual, because the woman is the Church. We struggle in our battle between flesh and spirit and Satan. While we work to bring more people into salvation. We will try to create religion, to replace Christ. But He will still rule over us.

¹⁷ And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

¹⁸ Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

¹⁹ In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Again, we will have a transition from physical to spirit. First, God plainly states what Adam did wrong. He listened to his wife instead of listening to God. God warned him not to eat of the fruit. But he chose to listen to his wife instead. Adam was not deceived, he willfully ignored God. This is why our corrupted nature and the plague of sin comes through Adam. This is why Jesus was born of a virgin in a pure womb without the works of man. Jesus was without Sin. He did not even have our corrupted nature. He was tempted like us, but succeeded, because there was nothing in Him to draw Him into sin. (James 1: 13-14)

Notice that God does not curse Adam. He curses the Ground. It’s my belief that when the Flood came, it washed away the perfect world, that existed at this time and left us in a world where the ground does not produce like it once did. It’s very possible that the former world was so fertile that you could plant one seed and gain a harvest, and eat one fruit and it would sustain you for a week or more. And nobody got fat. We could eat whatever we wanted and not get fat.  Maybe?

But, because of the curse our world is now in competition with itself. Everything struggles for the meager resources available. Course, if we all lived within our means we would be fine. But, because we fear death and do not trust God or others, we struggle and strive to always have more than we need. This goes for all of creation. This a response to death and the fear of it.

Man will work and struggle to survive. He will fight to protect and provide for his family. While everything constantly decays and falls apart and must be repaired and replaced.

But, like the woman this curse was designed to get Adam to seek help. Help from who? To reach out to God for help. That is the reason for the Curse. It is designed to get us to turn to God and be saved by Him. We live in this world of death and evil, ruled by Satan, but if everything went well, we would never turn to God. We would just continue in our fallen state. But, the hardship of the curse causes us to wake up and realize we need help. Then God presents Himself as the help. He comes running when we call out to Him.

This is why the love of money and wealth causes problems with salvation. As Jesus said, “its easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven” (Matt. 19:24) Why? Not because of wealth. We are not saved by works. But because wealth insulates us from the problems of life designed to cause us to need God. If you can throw money at all your problems, you have less need to throw yourself on God for help.

From the physical we transition to the spiritual.

We as believers shall eat the bread of the Word of God as we struggle in our battle with the enemy and our flesh. Till we die physically and until we finally kill off the fleshly man and bring forth the new spiritual man. The old life, must pass away as we grow into the new in Christ.

²⁰ And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

The woman is the Church. Christ declares that she is the mother of all those who are saved. We are saved by hearing the Word from other saved people, who follow the Spirit.

Notice in Genesis 2:20-23, right after she is created Adam names her Woman, because she came out of man. There was no need for salvation at this time. She was a living spirit. But, after the fall she is renamed and becomes; ‘Eve” the mother of all living. Because now there’s a need for salvation after the fall. She is a picture of the Bride of Christ, the second Adam; Jesus.

²¹ Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

We are hidden in Christ, and with Christ. We are washed in His blood and covered with His righteousness. This is the salvation of all those who are saved.

²² And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever:

²³ Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

²⁴ So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Why?

First, remember that Adam was created from the dust of the Earth, then taken somewhere else to live and serve.

It’s my belief that the Garden was in the city of God. Adam saw God. He spoke with Him, he walked with Him in Paradise. He had a relationship with Him. But the Fall severed that relationship and made it to where Adam and Eve could no longer live in the Garden.

In their fallen state they had become more fleshly and of the world. Not Paradise. Their eyes were opened and they were no longer in a state of Goodness. They had fallen.

This fallen state would have been made permanent if we had eaten of the Tree of Life. If we had eaten of it then heaven and everything would be corrupted forever. God could not save us and bring us into His kingdom. We would be filled with evil and the plague of Sin and death forever.

The way of salvation is blocked. Unless we go through Christ. He is the Gate. Robbers and thieves try to come in another way. But the right way is through Christ.

So, that is the reason for the Curse, and what is going on in this world. Turn to Jesus and find life.

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 Bio:Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ His newest book is called “The Future is Coming” and is a collection of dystopian short stories.

Follow Him on Medium: https://chris-bunton.medium.com/

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John 9

 John 9

A Word on What Really Matters.

John chapter 9 is a great chapter of the Bible.

Jesus heals a blind man on the sabbath and the local church leaders get mad about it.

They don't care about the man. They don't care about the miracle. All they care about is that some rule was broken. or at least broken in their eyes.

So instead of loving the man and praising God. They start using fear and intimidation to control the man and his family. They treat him like he is a second class citizen. Threatening him and anyone else who doesn't do what they say to do.

But, the man knows the truth. He knows that God loves him, even though the church leaders try to make him think that he is a wicked sinner deceived by the devil. They even called him a liar.

The church leaders cannot handle the thought that someone might not be scared of them, or controlled by them, or deceived by them. They cannot just leave it alone, because they cannot stand the fact that this peasant is not submitting to their authority.

So, they drive him out of the church. And probably make up stories as to why he's gone.

But, Jesus came to see the man again. And asked him if he believed on the Son of God.

That's it. Jesus didn't tell the man that he needed to submit to the authority of the abusive church leaders. He didn't quote verses about "Not forsaking the gathering". There was no guilt trips or threats or fear or manipulation, or anything else.

Jesus just said to believe on Him. That's it.

Then, he tells the church leaders that if they would admit they didn't know it all they might learn something. But, since they think they have it all figured out. They will remain blind.

 

Oftentimes people are more worried about rules, and having control. They are so filled with pride, that they reject the truth and peace that is right in front of them.

That is a consistent theme in the Gospels. Time and again Jesus, the God of all, is sitting right in front of them, and they still cling to our fleshly fears and beliefs.

Pilate, when he interrogated Christ, asks 'What is Truth?'  Truth was sitting in front of him. The only truth that matters.

We cling to our fleshly beliefs and maintain worldly systems. Not knowing that God is right there.  When we die, we will just step through and He is there. He sees and knows all.

He waits for us to turn to Him and ask Him to save us and teach us and grow us.

He is right here with us.

Waiting.

 

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Bio:Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ His newest book is called “The Future is Coming” and is a collection of dystopian short stories.

Follow Him on Medium: https://chris-bunton.medium.com/

Buy a cup of Coffee

Support the work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=13514235&fan_landing=true&view_as=public

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The Relationship

 The Relationship

A Word on What Matters Most

The scriptures say that on Judgement Day, anyone who does not know Christ will be told,

"Depart from Me. I never knew you." (Matthew 7:23, Mathew 25:41 , Matthew 10:32, Romans 10:9-10, John 5:24)

Now, we know that God is all powerful, and therefore knows everyone. So, what He is saying here is that He never had a relationship with you.

That's the most important thing in life. To have a relationship with The Lord. To know your creator. And to be known by Him. To be friends with God. Like Adam, who walked with God in the Garden .( Romans 4:3, James 2:23)

Am I talking about Salvation?

Yes and no.

I am not talking about saying some magic words. Or even trying to be a better person because God wants you to.

You have to understand the reality of things. 

First, humans are utterly depraved. We have a corrupted nature and commit sins because of our fallen sinful nature.

Humans do not seek God. We do not realize how wicked we are. We do not understand our need for Him. This is why God gave us the law. So we can see we are sinners and need Him.

He calls us and we can choose to turn to Him or reject Him.

If you want to know God, then it's a sure sign that He is calling you.

If you turn to Him (repent) and ask Him to save you and help you, confessing that Jesus is The Lord. 

He saves you. He washes you. His Spirit comes to dwell in you. And He starts to grow you, sanctify you, and work in your life.

He removes sin from our lives. And starts making changes. But, He doesn't remove everything.

This is where the relationship comes into play. As you confess your sins to Him, He works over time to help you overcome and to grow. He does the work. You just move in an occupy what has been accomplished. (1 John 1:5-10)

It is not our work. All our works of righteousness are as filthy rags (Isa 64:6). Remember, we are sinners. We are saved. But. We do not know everything or understand everything. He has to do the work, while we confess, pray, thank him and grow. This is the relationship. We are trusting Him to save us and grow us. We hear His voice and we respond.

The scriptures indicate that there are people who think they are saved but never were. They find out on Judgement Day. (Matthew 25, Matthew 22:12-14, Luke 19:12-27)

How can this happen?

They were called, but instead of responding with faith and relationship. They responded with religion, Self-righteousness and works.  Like the pharisees. They never knew Him and refused to be broken and grown by Him. They preferred rules, and rituals. They prayed like the pharisee, instead of the sinner. (Luke 18:9-14)

There are people who heard the call and believed it. But, never really confessed Him as Lord or turned to Him. Yes, they believe, like the demons of hell believe but they never really knew him. Trouble, Life, Satan and the Love of Money, drew them away before they really accepted Him. (James 2:19, Matthew 13,)

The relationship matters. Some people hear the call and reject immediately. Whether they understand or not. They were called.

Understand that the relationship is simple. It's not a struggle it's about letting Him work.

Think about it. We are totally wicked. How can we know what needs fixed and how to do it?

He gave us His Word so we know what to confess to Him. Not for us to fix. We cannot. Only He can. The law shows us we need a savior. Then after salvation, it shows us what we need to confess and have Him work on so we can grow.

You are a sinner. You cannot fix yourself. Even after being saved. You must let the Spirit work. This is the relationship.

If you do it yourself, then you will never really know Him.

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Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ His newest book is called “The Future is Coming” and is a collection of dystopian short stories.

Follow Him on Medium: https://chris-bunton.medium.com/

Read His Spiritual Writings on Blogger: https://chrisbunton.blogspot.com/

Buy a cup of Coffee

Support the work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=13514235&fan_landing=true&view_as=public

Photos by the author.

Global Unity

 Global Unity

A Word on Satan's Global Plan.

Global Unity is a goal of Satan. He needs everyone together so he can rule them, and they will worship him.

He mimics God's plans, because he wants to be as the most high God. (Isa. 14:12-15)

God wants to save people and unite them in Christ. Satan wants to get followers and unite them under his messiah the Anti-Christ.

We see before the Flood, Satan and the Fallen angels corrupted humanity. They twisted the bloodline of Cain. Then deceived the Sethites to fall as well, till only one man was found who followed God and resisted the corruption. (Gen. 6)  This is a picture of our current times. The world is twisted and enslaved by the enemy and even the Church is being pulled in, so the wheat can be revealed. All preparing for the fire to come. But, there are those who have been made righteous.

After The Flood, Satan again brought humans together at the Tower of Babel and God came down to separate the people groups, by language. Then, caused the continents to separate, to divide the people even further. (Gen. 11:1-9, Gen. 10:25)

Why would God divide the nations?

Because a divided people is harder to rule. So, Satan cannot rule a divided world. This division has slowed the efforts of Satan to unite the world, under his messiah. He rules and enslaves humans in the spirit, but not openly in the flesh yet. But, that day is coming. Things start in the spirit, then in the fullness of time come into the world.

Ever since the Tower of Babel, Satan has worked to unite the people of the world under himself, to prepare for his messiah to come. He has led world conquests. We see in Daniel, the image of some of the world conquerors. Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, and the empire of these latter days.  Each seem separate. But, they are all one image. Ruled by the wicked one. (Daniel 2: 31-45)

Satan has used the religions, and false religions to conquer the world and unite them under his messiah.

In today's world, he is using democracy. Strong as iron but weak as clay. He twists minds to get them to vote as he wills. He is using technology and the internet, as today's Tower of Babel. Getting the world to believe and say the same things. 

All for his messiah, His Superman, to come and save the world from the destruction he has caused.

Which is the Anti-Christ, or the "instead of" Christ.

So when you see the effort to create unity and destroy divisions, know that the spirit of antichrist is working. Real unity only comes in Christ.

He seeks to destroy divisions in genders, races, countries, cultures, religions, history, heritage, and blood. he seeks to destroy God's creation and His image in everything.

He causes destruction so he can come and be the savior. He causes hatred and wars so he can claim to unite of the people. The Prince of Peace. 

 

God's division is not hatred, it's protection. It's to create more time for more people to come to know Him.

God sets us free and calls us to join Him in Christ. He does not force us. He does not steal, kill, destroy or cancel.

He just asks.

Read more posts on prophecy:

 
The Spirit of Anti-Christ

The New World Order Anti-Christ Kingdom

The Great Falling Away

The Holy Spirit vs. The Anti-Christ Spirit

The Princes of This World

 

False Teachers 

 

The Pre-Tribulation Rapture 

 

The Lord's Delay

 

 

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 Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ His newest book is called “The Future is Coming” and is a collection of dystopian short stories.

Follow Him on Medium: https://chris-bunton.medium.com/

Read His Spiritual Writings on Blogger: https://chrisbunton.blogspot.com/

Buy a cup of Coffee

Support the work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=13514235&fan_landing=true&view_as=public

Photo by the author.

I Sin A Little

 I Sin A Little

A Word on not being a Pharisee.

Pharisees are one of the biggest problems in the church.

What is a pharisee? 

Well a pharisee is a person who practices religion and acts just like the pharisees in the Bible.

They think they are saved by Works. Even if they won't admit it. They think they are better than others. They believe they do not sin. And they try to force others to follow the same rules they obey. They usually try to control churches, families and people.

They crucified Jesus, because He didn't obey their rules, and they didn't want to lose control. They were envious of his growing ministry.

These same people would crucify Him again if He came into your church today.

I'm sure someone is coming to your mind as I describe a pharisee.

These people need saved. They are in a tough place. They practice self-righteousness but we are not saved by our own righteousness.

They are the Elder Brother. God wants them saved also. But, Jesus warned us to not be like them. Their works based doctrine will spread throughout, and ruin you. It's like leaven. It only takes a little to puff us up. That's pride. Pride comes because you think you are saving yourself. (Matt 23, Matt. 16:5-12)

So, I ask these people. "Do you sin?"

Which if they know the Bible, they have to admit they do. 1 John 1:8 says, ."If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth (Jesus) is not in us."

So, they say. "Yes, but I try to only sin a little"

To which I say, "James says, that if you try to keep the law and fail on one point you've broken the whole law." ( James 2:10)

Then, they usually try to say, that they love God.

But Jesus said, "If you love me keep my commandments."(John 14:15)

And this leads into a conversation on whether humans can truly love God. 

We can't.  We have a corrupted nature. it's only through the Holy Spirit that we can love God and others to the level God desires.

I don't say these things to be a jerk or make things hard. It's really quite simple. We can't do it, and need Jesus, even after we are saved.

This brings me to the point.

We are saved BY grace THROUGH faith, not by Works, lest any man should boast (pride) Eph. Chapter 2.

The works we do are done by the Holy Spirit, in us and through us. Our own works are as filthy rags.(Isa 64:6)

Understand that we do nothing to save ourselves. Even thinking we do, is a sin. Pride.

The best we can do is turn to God (repent) and fall on our faces praying "have mercy on me a sinner" as Jesus said. (Luke 18:9-14)

We ask Him to save us and we confess Him as Lord, then through faith we trust Him and let Him build our faith, and grow our relationship with Him.

Our "works" change. We no longer worry about sin. Our sin was washed in His blood and cleansed when we confess. We confess our sins to Him and He washes our feet.

Our works become abiding in Him, letting Him grow us, serving and loving Him and others, building the Kingdom and getting people saved.

Again, all of this is done by HIM, through us.

We are vessels.  

Do not be a pharisee. You are no better than the worst sinner. You are just saved. Remember this. 

We are just like the Thief on the Cross. One step above death.

Beware the leaven of the Pharisees. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

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Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ His newest book is called “The Future is Coming” and is a collection of dystopian short stories.

Follow Him on Medium: https://chris-bunton.medium.com/

Read His Spiritual Writings on Blogger: https://chrisbunton.blogspot.com/

Buy a cup of Coffee

Support the work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=13514235&fan_landing=true&view_as=public

Photo by the author.

Spiritual Warfare

 Spiritual Warfare

A Word on Real Spiritual Warfare.

This is an overview of spiritual warfare. It is not all inclusive. It's just a bit of truth so you can fight the enemy.

Spiritual warfare is what we do as believers. There's no way around it. If you are saved, then the Holy Spirit is leading you to do things that will engage the forces of darkness.

Light drives out darkness. Salt purifies and prevents decay. Love drives out fear. 

If you serve Christ, then you are engaging in spiritual warfare. Satan seeks to kill, steal and destroy. If you feed the poor in Jesus name, you are opposing this, and bringing light.

It starts with prayer. Learn what God's will is, then pray for people according to His will.

God is not willing that any should perish. So, you can confidently pray for people to be saved. (2 Peter 3:9)

The Lord came to set people free, to heal them, to restore them, to reconcile them. This is God's will. (Isa 61:1-3, 2 Cor. 5:18)

We can see in Genesis, that God provided everything we need. That is His will. That we have what we need.

Stand on the Word. 

 

You must know the Word to stand on it. You must be saved and have the Holy Spirit to have authority in Jesus name. Know the promises. Ask God to teach you and help you.

Speak God's promises into the world. Remind yourself, remind the demons, and remind the entire creation of what God has promised. These are facts. They will happen, and are so determined that they actually have already happened. Who can stop it? Who can stop God?

This builds faith, as we see Him working and fulfilling His promises in our lives, the lives of others and the world. This drives out darkness. Trust God.

 

So, when you feel or think that you can't do something you say out loud. "No Satan! Begone in Jesus name. The Word says I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me." or whatever verses come to mind. There are tons of them. "The Word says, Whatsoever you ask in my name I will do. and I trust Him in Jesus name!"  Stand on the Word. Build faith.

Cast out demons.

If you are saved, then you have authority over the enemy. Do not play games with this. Stand on God's promises, and tell the spiritual enemies to be gone in Jesus name. Not by your power, but by His. You are like a police officer. Your power and authority comes from the King.

Learn what you are doing. All humans, are tempted, harassed, and attacked by the enemy in various ways. Even saved humans. (I did not say possessed)

James says, that if we are tempted it's because the enemy is playing on something in our flesh. So, temptation is an attack of the enemy and something we can wage spiritual warfare against. Cast out the demon when temptation comes. 

Listen to what I'm going to say because some preachers will have you spending your life trying to stop sinning. Demons will have you spending your time and mind trying to stop sinning, instead of serving the Lord. 

 

You learn to overcome by serving. The devil loves for Christians to keep struggling with sin. Because it keeps them from waging real war. YOU ARE FORGIVEN AND WASHED. If you are saved. Confess your sins to the Lord, believe he has saved you and get busy doing what He called us to do.

In the world, we wait till we are trained and ready to go out and work. But, in spiritual terms we learn by stepping out. Because it's not us doing it, it;s Him doing it through us. Then we grow and learn and see God working as we step out and serve. When we see God working it grows our faith and our relationship with Him and this helps drive out the flesh. This is the battle between the flesh and spirit. We are over comers through Him. And that happens as we go and serve, in HIS name.

Satan doesn't really care if you sin. He tempts you to sin, in order to keep you from serving God. If he can get you to focus on not sinning, then you are not out there getting people saved. Understand? The battle is to grow in Christ, be in relationship with him, driving back darkness and getting people saved. It's not in quitting sinning. Jesus already overcame sin on the cross. Get it?

 

Take fear as an example. Paul says that God has not given us a spirit of fear.  So, fear is an attack of the enemy. It's a demon. Fear is doubting God's power and love. Anxiety is a spiritual attack. Cast it out. Fear keeps us from doing God's will and serving Him. We overcome fear through spiritual power of prayer and casting out demons, through loving God and others enough to push through and do the work we are called to do, and through our sound mind in what God's Word says, and what is right and good and wise. (2 Tim 1:7)

There are tons of demonic entities who tempt and torment us. When the Holy Spirit reveals it to you, Cast it out in Jesus name.

We don't war against flesh and blood. Our true enemies are spiritual demons who attack us and other humans. They use us to serve their goal of building the Kingdom of the Anti-Christ, and keeping us in bandage. The enemy seeks to hurt God, by hurting the humans God loves, and getting us to reject God.

Overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21)

We often think that spiritual warfare is all spooky casting out demons, and weird stuff.

But it's not. It's spreading the Gospel. It's using the fruit of the Spirit in the world. love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. The fruit is the Spirit's. not ours. Understand this. He does this through us. Yes, we grow in these things. But, the actual fruit is of the Spirit. Not our works. We develop fruit by serving, and the Spirit grows these things in us and puts them out to the world. We are saved sinners, we cannot develop fruit. The Spirit does it. But, none of it happens if we won't even cross the road to help someone in Jesus name. (Gal 5:22-23, Mark 16:15-20)

It's visiting the sick and imprisoned, it's clothing the naked. It's feeding the hungry and helping the poor, in Jesus name. (Matthew 25:31-46)

It's giving a cool drink of water, it's helping the broken and encouraging the fallen. It's working to change lives and save souls, in Jesus name.

And that's the foundation of spiritual warfare. Building the kingdom in Jesus name. Not our own. Not someone else's. But His. His name. His Kingdom.

Find your gifts, find your ministry, find your place and serve. Do battle, in Jesus name. You do this by going forth and doing. Then, he moves and reveals. Faith grows and more is revealed. Our battle between flesh and spirit, is helped by going forth and serving.

No more games. No more wasting time. The King is coming.

 

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Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ His newest book is called “The Future is Coming” and is a collection of dystopian short stories.

Follow Him on Medium: https://chris-bunton.medium.com/

Read His Spiritual Writings on Blogger: https://chrisbunton.blogspot.com/

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Support the work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=13514235&fan_landing=true&view_as=public

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Hearing From God

 Hearing From God

A Word on How God Communicates With Us

 

Hearing from God is one of the most simplest, and natural things there is.

He does it. We cannot force it. It's not through our effort that we hear from Him. He's God. He created us. He is all powerful.

But, we have become unnatural. We are fallen. We are depraved, and everything screams this truth.

So we must make an effort to hear. We must understand what is happening. Or we will forget, dismiss or make explanations, and excuses.

At the moment of birth God seeks to connect with us. Often as children we have no trouble believing or knowing God. We remember the one who made us and was with us in the womb. But, as we get older and Sin has grown in us, and Satan has worked on us. It gets harder and harder for us to hear God, until we turn to Him and give our lives to Him, and He saves us.

Then, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us. He starts working on us. He molds us and shapes us into the likeness of His Son. But, even then we are hard of hearing from God. So, we must realize the various methods He might use to reach out.

Gods Word:

The Bible is used by God to speak to His people. It does this in 3 ways. First is the literal word. When God promises something in His Word He means it. We see the verses and learn from them. We use the stories and symbols to understand things in our life.

Second, is personal. You read a verse and God quickens it or brings it to life and it speaks to your need.

3rd, He brings a verse or song to our remembrance that speaks to us. This happens when you are not reading the Word. Some situation pops up in life and then a verse comes to your mind which relates to the event.

Secular movies and books:

A lot of religious people who don't really know God will reject this. But, I have had God speak to me through a movie or book.  Some phrase or sentence just comes to life and is relevant for me or something going on. I have had my heart broken or realize I need to do something or fix something.

Wake up singing: 

I often wake up with a song in my mind. It can be a praise song. Sometimes it's an 80s song or secular song I haven't heard in years. But, I know it's from God. Often it speaks of love or let's me know He is with me. You can turn many secular songs into praise songs by changing a word, or focusing on God.

Deja Vu:

Have you ever had deja vu? That feeling that you've been somewhere before? Often I have prayed and tried to figure out what it means. The answer I get is that God is telling us that He has already been there before us. He is with us. It's also often remembered from a dream.

Revelation:

It is an aha moment. A bolt from the blue that opens up spiritual significance.  I often get revelations when my mind is wandering and it's just random. Then, boom!  I understand the entire situation. Whatever it is. This can happen when reading the Word. But, it can also happen at other times.

Inspiration:

Inspiration is similar to revelation but it is more creative and involves physical worldly type stuff. We suddenly receive the solution to a problem, etc It might come after prayer. I will have a problem, then pray about it, and inevitably I'll figure it out.

His presence:

God speaks to us through His presence. We can feel Him near and it comforts us. We know He is there, and we smile at the fact.

He calls your name:

Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night because someone said your name? This happened to Samuel in the scriptures. When this happens, listen and pray.  Sometimes you'll recognize the voice as a person you know. Pray for that person. Sometimes it's a voice you know, but have never physically met. I always remember the verse. "I have called you by name you are mine" (Isa 43:1-3)

It comforts me to know that I am His, and He knows my name.

Memory verses:

God will bring verses to our remembrance when we need them in order to speak to us.

History:

This is referring to your history.

God has done things for us in the past. He often reminds us of this when we need it, in order to strengthen our faith to trust Him.

Also, this speaks of the importance of getting children in church. Because when they are older and in trouble God can use long dead memories from childhood, to draw us to Him.

Preachers:

The Bible says that the primary way God speaks to us and seeks to save us us through his servant's preaching. He gives a word, and an obedient servant preaches on it, and you hear the word, and God brings it to life in your mind.

Donkeys:

In the Bible God used a donkey to speak to Baalam. He used ravens to feed Elijah. God can and does use anything or anyone to speak to us whenever He wants to. And when He does. We know it's God. We can try to weasel out of it but we know. (Numbers 22)

Visions and dreams

Sometimes we might see something or have a dream and it strikes us, and sticks with us. We know it's God.

Similitude of God.

The scriptures speak of the Similitude of God. It refers to similarities. We see things that are similar to something else and it jumps out at us. It's typically involving spiritual things. Analogies. 

Life patterns:

Sometimes things will happen. Like I will read a book about the Brooklyn Bridge. Then, an hour later some random TV show will have a character on the Brooklyn Bridge. Then an hour later a news report will mention the Brooklyn Bridge. Sometimes all these things will happen in one hour. And I would think I'm crazy, except my wife sees them too.  She calls them "God Winks". I take them as God telling us we are right where we are supposed to be. It's often called Synchronicity.

Signs and wonders:

These can come in many different ways. But when it happens you know God is there talking to you.

Often a family member will die. Then you might notice a butterfly or bird, or song, and you know it is speaking of your departed loved one. You know they are there. God is comforting you, and trying to draw you to Himself.

Broken life:

When our life falls apart, God is there. We might not feel Him. But He is there. This is when He is closest. He wants us to turn to Him so He can save us and help us.

Telling the Future:

Often God speaks to me before something happens. For example, I was at church and God started pointing out the peeling paint. Later that day, the church called and asked if I'd be interested in doing some painting.  I didn't need to pray. God had already told me to do the job. It led to many blessings.

Thinking of God:

The Bible teaches that because of our fallen state, humans do not seek God.

So, what that means is that if you are seeking God or spiritual things, it is because He is calling you. Turn to Him. Ask Him to save you and know Him. Confess Jesus as your Lord.

Burden:
Sometimes God will put a burden on our heart. We feel we must pray for someone, or call them or visit them. The burden will bother us until we do the thing.

The Still Small Voice: 

He speaks to us in a voice we must learn to listen for. He speaks to us through His Spirit, and we must know Him to hear and understand. Not that God cannot speak in a booming voice. He can, but He seems to desire for us to focus on Him. He doesn't really try to compete with the noise of life. We can listen for Him, and know.

God is trying to have a relationship with each of us. Turn to Him and ask. He is communicating with you. Trust Him. These are not the only ways God can speak to us. Do not put God in a box. 

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Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ His newest book is called “The Future is Coming” and is a collection of dystopian short stories.

Follow Him on Medium: https://chris-bunton.medium.com/

Buy a cup of Coffee

Support the work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=13514235&fan_landing=true&view_as=public

 Photos by the Author