Our Warfare

 Our Warfare

A Word on Spiritual Warfare

 

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”— Eph 6:12

“(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)”—2 Cor. 10:4

The Bible teaches that we have a spiritual enemy, and we use spiritual means to combat them.

I felt led to write this because I’ve seen lots of opinions lately attacking the idea of demonic entities impacting our lives.

There’s a view in some Christian circles, that there is no spiritual enemy to fight. That it’s just us and our fleshly nature. No demons. Just our sin and disobedience to God.

But, that leaves out large parts of scripture. It throws a monkey wrench into the gears of what spiritual reality is.

Our flesh impacts us. But, there’s also a spiritual component that comes at us as well. There’s something outside the body that works against us. We see evidence and the scriptures warn us of it. (1 Pet. 5:8)

If we had a house with a rat problem, we would solve it and work to prevent it.

But, would we just blame the people who live in the house? That’s what we often do. It’s their fault. We accuse them and beat them down for having rats. We gossip, and judge and accuse.

The tenants do need to clean up. This is true.

But to solve the problem, the landlord needs to organize the cleanup and take care of things the tenants cannot. Like wise, the city needs to deal with things outside of what the landlord can do.

Finally, the rats must be dealt with and prevented. 

Many folks want to solve the problem by just telling people to live cleaner. But, that won’t solve it, totally. They need saved. They need prayer. They need the Holy Spirit, and Spiritual Warfare waged. They need love and help, which is part of our warfare.

This is what goes on in many churches. They tell.people not to sin, but ignore the spiritual reality of the war we are in.

I know churches, where they never mention the Holy Spirit or possible demonic activity.

People are suffering. Our world is getting darker, while many believers want to play church. People are dying and going to hell while churches sing songs.

The Lord says, “Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.”    (Amos 5:21-24)

He desires mercy for people. He seeks to save and help the lost, and hurting. That’s His heart. He did not come to demand your worship or sacrifice. We worship by waging spiritual war, saving people and helping them. (Matt. 9:13)

We have an enemy. If Satan can get us to think he doesn’t exist or doesn’t fight, then he wins because we do nothing.

It’s far wiser to fight the rats than to pretend they don’t exist, or hope they will just go away.

The first step in spiritual warfare. Is to believe God and His Word, over everything your senses tell you and everything the World tells you.

If you cannot believe God, then you are not saved and you are powerless against spiritual forces.

You must believe the Word given unto you, in order to accept it. Now I’m not saying that you must accept every word the preacher tells you. 

I’m saying you need to believe the Word of God as He leads you through the Holy Spirit.

Are you reading and studying the Bible? Listen to it while you drive or work. You need to be in the Word. That’s where you learn Truth.

Memorize verses. Especially verses that tell you about salvation and God’s promises.

Decide that you are going to trust God’s Word no matter what.

If the Bible says God created the Earth in seven days, thousands of years ago, then that’s what you believe.

If you cannot believe in creation, then how can you believe God raised Jesus from the dead?

And if you cannot believe Jesus rose from the dead, then you are not saved. (Rom. 10:9-10)

The same Bible speaks of both.

Trust the Lord. He will show you.

The Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit. If you do not know the Word or believe it, then you are not armed in this war. (Heb. 4:12, Eph. 6:12-17)

You might not even be saved, truth be told.

We are made righteous by believing what God tells us.(Gen. 15:6, Rom. 4:3)

All the armor we have in this war is directly related to God’s Word and the belief and trust we put into it, and Him. If you cannot believe and trust God and His Word, then you have no armor, or sword. (Eph. 6:12-17)

Now realize, that it is the Holy Spirit in us. It is not our fleshly selves. It’s God that does all of it. It’s His authority.

So when we wage war, it is God in us doing it. Do not think it is your own power. That is the enemy trying to put pride in your heart for something that is not yours.

Understand?

We have an enemy, and if He can get us to ignore him. Or not believe he is real or not wage war, then he is victorious.

How many people have been lost because we did not wage war?

How much pain and suffering have we allowed to continue to torment people because we refuse to see the demons harassing them, and pray for them and help them instead of condemning them?

That addicted child? 

They could be under the influence of demons. Wouldn’t it be good to know how to pray? To know how to fight for your child. As a matter of fact there is a large demonic aspect to addiction.

That person who always falls on hard times?

Could be demons, harassing them. Maybe they try to get right but always get led astray?

That person who is facing mental issues. Anxiety? Struggles?

Demons? Maybe? Maybe not. But it never hurts to pray for them properly.

Here’s something you must get straight. Demons harass or tempt or attack everybody.

It is not an indication of wrong doing.

Didn’t Jesus get tempted by the devil? (Matt. 4:1)

Didn’t Jesus get harassed by demons using the pharisees to tempt Him? (Matt. 22:18)

Didn’t He face demons during His ministry. (Luke 8:26-39)

Didn’t Judas get filled with the devil to betray Christ? (John 13:26-27)

Didn’t the demon princes of this world kill Him? (1 Cor. 2:8)

Jesus was perfect.

Therefore, demonic attacks or harassment have nothing to do with sinfulness.

We are all tempted. We all sin and we all face attacks in this war if you are saved.

It is a deception of the enemy to pretend that we don’t, or that only those sinners over there get tempted.

Stop being like the Pharisees, and start being like Jesus.

Learn to stand. Not turning a blind eye.

Ask God to show you.

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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/

Follow Him on Free Life Blog: https://myfreelifeblog.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

Steal, Kill And Destroy

 Steal, Kill, and Destroy

Satan Works to Destroy Us

 

Jesus said that the thief or Satan has come to steal, kill and destroy. What does this mean? (John 10:9-10, John 8:43-44)

Well the very first thing. Is our soul. The enemy does everything in his power to keep people from salvation. He fights to keep people from hearing the call. From knowing God. From having a relationship with Him. ( Matt. Chapter 13, verses 4, 19)

But, once God has broken through into our lives and we have heard Him, believed Him and accepted Him. He saves us.

Even after salvation, the enemy still attacks us. He still seeks to steal, kill and destroy.

He gets us to waste our money on things that won’t bless others, or survive the fire.

He gets us to focus on things that don’t matter, stealing our time and our life, and our finances.

He gets us to see only this world, instead of storing up treasures for the next.

Because where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matt 6:19-21)

Overcome evil with good. Turn everything over to God. Surrender it all and use all of it for His glory. That redeems our waste. That turns uselessness into value. (Romans 12:21)

That enemy seeks to destroy our health, and to murder us. He gets us to worry about the belly. What we shall eat and what we shall wear. He gets us addicted to this life, and the filth of it. Feeding us garbage to make us sick, to destroy our health and make us doubt God. Our sickness from the garbage of this world, gets us to focus on our bodies, instead of the things of the Spirit. (Matthew 6:24-34, )

We eat like kings, and gain all the diseases that come with it. And the enemy uses it to turn our minds from the things that matter. 

He sends us to early graves, because we seek the things of the flesh.

All things are lawful, but not all things bring us closer to God. (1 Cor. 6:10, 10:23)

Our spirit matters more than the body, but the body can be used to distract us from the spirit. We need to try to prevent that. Like a soldier shoring up a weak position. Our health, both spiritual and physical matters.

That enemy wants to destroy our service to God, and others. He distracts us into things that doesn’t matter. He does things to make us look evil to others. He throws monkeywrenches into our work, and leads us to do things that cause people to not listen to us, when we preach the Gospel or share truth.

He destroys our families. Our lives. Our hopes and dreams. He gets us to blame God and run from Him. Which allows more destruction, death and loss.

Like a lion going around seeking whom he may devour, he makes a loud roar. And the fear, causes the weak, young, foolish, and sick to run. And the lion can find you away from the shepherd. (1 Peter 5:8)

The enemy destroys us by getting us to leave the presence of the shepherd. 

He makes us feel that God is mad at us. That God is hurting us. That God is deceiving us or tricking us. He tells us that we are too far gone. That we have lost our salvation, or given it away. (Gen. Chapter 3)

He does everything in his power to keep us from our only savior, Jesus Christ, the Lord Almighty. (Matthew Chapter 13)

The Parable of the Sower shows that the enemy tries to steal the Word from our heart, while trouble and temptations come to draw us into the distractions of this life and get us to ignore God or hate God. These troubles cause us to fear, and doubt and forget. (Matt. Chapter 13)

The soil of the heart can only become good when we turn to God, get saved and let Him work in our lives. Even then we have attacks of the enemy. The heart never fully turns good. It is deceitful and wicked. Do not trust it. Trust God. (Jer. 17:7-12)

The answer for everything is to turn to God. Confess to Him. Grow in Him. Trust Him.

No matter what it is. Turn to God, and let Him work. Have faith that he loves you. Have faith that He is working, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Heb. 11:6)

Turn to God. Always.

Our protection stands in God. When we get saved we are in Christ.

But, the question must be. If trouble comes, where do you turn? A person who knows God and trusts God and has put everything in God turns to Him. We trust His promises in His Word. We trust the relationship He has shown us that we have with Him.

A person who never really knew God or never really accepted Him does not turn to Him.

People do not lose their salvation. They never had it.

Of course we question things. That is the enemy putting doubt into our hearts. That is a temptation.

But, what do we do with it?

Do we reject Satan and turn to God? Or do we reject God, who is our only Hope?

God wants us to seek Him and question Him in these times. It helps build the relationship. He shows us His love and power and we grow in Faith. Even Jesus in the Garden had questions and concerns. (Matt. 26:36-46)

A person who really knows God, turns to God. This is abiding. (John 14:6, John Chapter 15)

Some believers, will act as though we should not concern ourselves with the enemy. But, that is the exact opposite of what the Word teaches.

We have an enemy. We are at war. We need to understand his devices and wage war. Our protection lies in Christ, not our own works. But, we are called to serve in this war. (2 Cor, 2:10-11)

We are called to abide in Him. We are called to endure. (2 Tim. 2:3, Matt. 24:13)

We endure and abide by knowing Him and trusting Him. By turning to Him always, confessing to Him, and building that relationship.

Not by works. But, by His Grace in Him.

Tough times are coming. The Flood is coming.

Is your faith in Him built on the Rock of Christ?

Or is it built on the shifting sands of your own efforts, and worldly things? (Matt. 7:24-29)

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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/

Follow Him on Free Life Blog: https://myfreelifeblog.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

What Is Free Will?

 What Is Free Will?

Why Does It Matter?

 

 

Free Will is about God. Not necessarily humans.

It starts with God. It starts with His character.

We know from the Bible that God is Love. (1 John 4:8)

It’s who He is. We cannot really comprehend that.

We can only say, what we have been allowed to know and what we can glean from the pictures given to us in creation, and what God has revealed to us through His Word and other means. (Romans 1:19-20, Psalm 19:1, Gen. 15:1, John 1:1)

Our reality that we see with our senses, is probably so vastly different from the reality outside of this world and our understanding, that we cannot comprehend it. (1 Cor. 2:9)

The things that exist in Paradise, Heaven, Eternity, or the Spiritual Realm outside of what we see is beyond our ability to imagine.

It’s the same with God. (Isa 55:8-9)

But, we know He is Love, because He tells us in His Word. He is Just, He is Righteous. He is Truth. He is Mercy and Kindness. He is Holy. He is Wise. None of His aspects over rule any other part. He is perfect.

These aspects of His character are part of our understanding of Free Will.

Since, these are aspects of God’s character, these aspects are woven into creation, and into His reasons for creating.

God needed nothing. He’s God. But, He decided to create.

We do not really know why.

So, here we travel into speculation, because we really cannot prove it. But, it’s my belief that He created because of Love and His other attributes.

How can you say, “I Am Love.” If there’s nothing to love? How can you say “I Am Love” if everything is perfect and easily loved. How can you say, “I Am Merciful”. Unless there’s something to give mercy to?

So, I believe God creates because of His attributes. A challenge to Himself. I can’t prove it. But there it is.

The Bible says that God created everything “Good” (Gen. Chapter 1).

That means that everything was good, and without evil. There was nothing bad in His creation. But, we can see that if He said “Good” then evil existed somewhere. But not in His creation at this time. I believe evil is a by product of Good. Like exhaust or bodily waste, and was contained somewhere else at creation.

Ok, so God creates humans. He has already created animals and angels it seems.

He gave everything, Free will. Why? Because of Love. Because of His attributes.

If He created humans, angels and animals. Then forced them to love Him, their love would not be true. It would be fake. Like a robot. They had to be given Free Will in order to choose to love God, or not.

Angels also have free will. That’s why Satan and others were able to Fall. They could not have fallen if they did not have free will. It’s the same with Humans.

So, in order to have free will, there must be a choice. No choice. No free will.

So, God placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden.

Adam and Eve had the free will to choose to eat of it or not. (Genesis Chapters 1 through 3)

The choice to trust God and love Him. Or not.

Adam chose to eat. He was not deceived. He knew what He was doing and made the choice and evil entered the world. He became corrupted and died spiritually. (1 Tim. 2:14)

Since Adam had dominion over the world. Everything under him suffered as well. (Romans 8:22)

Death, Sin and Satan took over this world. Humans gained a corrupted nature, which made us totally depraved. This is why we sin. This is why we cannot get right, without God. We are filled with evil mentally, spiritually, and physically. (Romans Chapter 1, Romans chapter 5, Romans Chapter 7)

We still have free will, even on our fallen state. We can choose to turn to God, for salvation through Jesus Christ or we can choose to reject Him.

It’s the same choice we had in the Garden. Choose God and Good. Or choose evil.

Choose God.

Why do I write this?

Well, because I feel led to. I cannot tolerate the “Because I said so” mentality. I must find out why. I must understand why things are the way they are. Just because some preacher tells me something, doesn’t mean I should just believe it. And I don’t expect you to either. The Bereans didn’t. (Acts 17:10-12)

I don’t believe that God expects it. God is Truth. He is not afraid for us to search out the deep things of God and reality. Because if we know Him. We will find Him everywhere. “If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.” (Psalm 139:8)

James says that if we ask God for wisdom He will give it. (James 1:5)

The Holy Spirit will teach us, and guide us into all truth. (John 16:13)

We cannot know everything of God. The scriptures teach that. But we can understand enough to have firm faith.

In these last days of deception we need to dig deeper. The false beliefs and doctrines that will come from every quarter will be so difficult to stand against, we will need answers.

If we do not have answers then Satan will be happy to provide them.

Trust God. Trust Jesus Christ.

The Truth can stand up to scrutiny. That doesn’t mean it will be believed. But, it will still stand.

You will not prove God wrong. You will not prove Truth wrong. If you do, then it’s either not true, or your understanding is flawed, or the preacher you’re listening to is wrong.

Seek God. Dig deeper.

Choose Him.

You do not need to understand everything. Let Him show you, and then you will trust Him more.

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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/

Follow Him on Free Life Blog: https://myfreelifeblog.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

Joy Comes In The Morning

 Joy Comes in The Morning

God Calls Us To Him

 

 

“For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”— Psalm 30:5

Things happen in our lives. Terrible things that break us and drag us down. Things that we cannot control and break us. Things that make us weep in our beds at night in agony.

This world is a terrible place.

It was created good by God, but has become corrupted.

God is our friend

He is Love. He is on our side and calls us through the darkness and pain.

He is the calm after the raging storms on the sea of despair.

He is our shepherd in a world filled with savage beasts seeking to devour.

He calls us and seeks us.

Even when we get angry at Him and blame Him.

Even when the entire world and our own mind tells us it’s His fault.

When the enemy whispers that God is against us.

The Lord is there, with a still small voice asking us to turn to Him.

There are things we do not understand. But He does.

He will comfort us, and teach us and grow us and help us to understand.

He will save us and dwell with us and in us.

When we turn to Him and ask him to save us and put our faith in Him, confessing Jesus as our Lord.

He moves in our soul.

He brings us from darkness and we see Him move in our lives.

Then, He fills us and we see the truth of Him.

We see He was with us in the darkness. He was with us in the despair. He was with us when we were hiding from Him. He was there.

And all that fear we had.

All that anger toward Him, will turn to joy.

And when we fall into that deep long sleep, we will awake with Him in the morning.

And every day will be new in Him.

He is all there is, and all there ever will be.

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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/

Follow Him on Free Life Blog: https://myfreelifeblog.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

Building Faith

 Building Faith

You can grow your faith

 

The Bible says ".For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.---(Eph.2:8-10)

Now let's rightly divide this verse. (2 Tim. 2:15)

First, we are saved by Grace. Period. It is a gift from God, which we need to turn to Him to accept. We just need to ask. Just call on His name. Just confess Him as Lord. (Acts 2:21, Romans 10:9-10)

We do this through faith, not by works. 

When we get saved God will work in us and through us to do the works he desires.

Now, the focus of this writing is Faith.

We are not saved by faith. We are saved by Grace.

See, faith can fall into a works based category.

People will say, "You don't have enough faith."

Even Jesus said, "Where is your faith?" ( Luke 8:25)

Understand that faith is a medium. It is a bridge. It's like a phone line.

You can put faith in a rock. But that rock can't save you.

You can call 911. But, if the phone line is cut. No one is coming.

Understand?

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1)

We do not see something, but we still believe and trust it because we have evidence. In God's case, that evidence has been given to us.

This is faith, and faith in something.

We have faith the sun will rise. We have faith that our job will be there in the morning. We have faith that the chair we sit in will hold us.

We have no proof. It doesn't have to happen. But we trust and believe anyway.

This is natural faith. 

All humans have a measure of faith. How could we believe if we didn't? (Romans 12:3)

But, not all people have faith in God, or Jesus Christ as Lord. (2 Thess.3:2)

Faith can be grown and strengthened. 

We have faith our phone will work. That faith has grown over years of experiencing its working. If our phone never worked we would not trust it.

It's the same with God.

Our faith grows, because we have seen Him move.

The more we see Him move, the more our faith grows. It grows till we KNOW...He is real and a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

The first thing is that you need to be saved. You need to hear His call, and turn to Him. Asking Him to save you and confessing Jesus as your Lord. (If you're reading this, then this is God calling you.)

You must be saved. You must be born again. That makes you a clean vessel for the Holy Spirit to come and inhabit. Ask Him to fill you. (John 3:1-8, Romans 10:9-10, Luke 11:11-13, Rom, 8::28)

Now once you are saved, the little bit of natural faith you have can be made new and strengthened in the Lord as He sanctifies you, and you walk with Him.

Once you're saved the Holy Spirit can take that little spark and build on it.

See?

You must believe, before anything can happen.

So, let's look at ways faith builds.

The Word of God.

The Bible says, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.." (Romans 10:17)

That means that we get saved and grow our faith in God, Jesus and spiritual things by hearing preaching that comes from the Word, and by reading the Word, or getting the Word in other ways.

BUT...

And this is most important. You must believe or be willing to believe. You must desire to know God. This comes by hearing the call and turning to Him. If you refuse to believe, nothing can happen. Unless God just hits you, like He did Paul. (Acts)

Years ago I heard a preacher preaching some things I didn't agree with. 

I set out to prove the him wrong. But, what I found was that I could not PROVE, it wrong.

What the Bible said was just as plausible as anything else. It was not crazy.

So I prayed and talked with God, and said, "I will believe Your Word. I don't care how crazy people think I am. I will believe your Word. Not what the world says."

See?

You must believe it. You must trust IT and the God who speaks it. 

Like James said, "not being hearers only..."(James 1:22) 

 

We put our faith in the Lord and His promises. Our faith grows as we trust His Word, and act on it.

This is why faith itself has an aspect of effort, or works.

We are saved by grace. But, faith is a bridge that connects us to God. This bridge is built by God and maintained by God. But, we also can and need to work and maintain it. 

We are called to abide. (John 15:4)

You cannot abide without faith. (Heb. 11:6)

So we listen to preachers preaching the real Word. We read the Word. But, we can also quote the Word to ourselves.

We quote God's promises to ourselves, and we trust it. Then, we see God move and fulfill His promise and our faith grows stronger.

 

Memorize God's promises. Believe them. Trust them. Say them out loud to yourself, and  your faith will be emboldened.

Let's say you are facing trouble at work. Speak out loud to yourself "No weapon formed against me shall prosper...: (Isa. 54:17) Trust it. Believe it. Stand on it. Then, see God move as you trust Him. It might not be what you think, or want, but watch and see. Speak it in Jesus' name.

Let's say trouble is coming, Speak out loud to yourself "The Word says! The Lord is faithful, He shall establish me, and keep me from evil. I believe it! I stand on it! Begone Satan in Jesus Name!"(2 Thess. 3:3)

Faith comes by hearing. You hear the truth of God's Word, when you quote verses out loud.

See?

"Taste and see that the Lord is good..."(Psalm 34:8)

We put a little faith in Him and His promises, and we see Him move. Then our faith grows, and we draw closer to Him.

You cannot see glorious things if you are not first willing to believe that glorious things are possible. Then, when you see it, your belief in glorious things grows, and your doubts get weaker.

If they won't believe the little things. They cannot see the big things. (Luke 16:10-12)

We trust God's Word. His promises. And God proves it to us. Then our faith grows.

You must also realize that Jesus Christ is the Living Word. So when you trust and believe in the Word. You are in essence trusting Jesus.

But, do not make the Bible an idol. Trust the Lord, He is the Word.

 

 Giving

Giving is a means by which our faith can grow.

God's Word gives us many promises regarding giving. (Luke 6:38, Mal 3:10)

It is almost like an exact exchange. You can literally see these promises being fulfilled.

The Word says to give to The Lord and to help people, and God will give back.

I have trusted this and obeyed, and literally watched as it all came back to me by the end of the day, and the blessings continued beyond that.

 

This is not "Prosperity Gospel" as some claim. These are promises of God. It is not a get rich quick scheme.We obey and see Him move, and our faith grows.

"Give and it shall be given unto you..." is a promise, and when you believe and obey, you will see it return and your faith will grow.

 

Fear Not.

The Lord commands us over and over to "fear not" (Isa 41:10)

His Word is full of promises to protect us.

When we trust Him, we see His protection. We see Him move. We feel encouraged. And our faith grows.

God does not expect us to have blind faith. He proves it over time.

This is abiding. This is the relationship.

 

When we trust Him, and believe Him.

This is how you fill your lamp with the oil of faith.

Because you see Him move and it embolden you to trust Him more. And you let your lamp shine, because you no longer fear. Lamps without oil are useless, and are removed. (Matthew 25:1-13,)

But, what about all those people in the world without Bibles, in China, North Korea and Islamic countries?

Well, if they are saved, then they have the Holy Spirit, the same as any other believer. That Spirit teaches them, the same as any believer. They move in love with faith, and God brings it back and proves it.

They trust God, through the trials of life and persecution, and He proves He is there. They trust His presence.

They pray and He moves.

Just like us.

Everything I am saying here is very important. But even more so as we see that His return grows closer.

We want to make sure we are abiding. We want to make sure we have faith. We want to make sure we have oil in our lamps and are saved, clothed in His righteousness ready for the feast.

(Matt. 25:1-13, Matt. 22:11-14)

There are Christians, who have never known Christ. They have never put their faith in Him. They have no oil. They have no garment washed in the Blood.

When the time comes, they will be led astray and join the Apostate church. They will beat the men servants and maidservants with persecution, helping the Anti-Christ.( Matt.24:48-5, Rev. 13:7-8)

They are not saved. They never were. They are false brethren, false teachers and prophets.

Grace was offered, but they put their faith in themselves, and their works. They never really believed.

Therefore, they never knew Him. (Matthew 7:23)

Trust God. Let Him grow you and fill you. Strengthen your faith.

He will. Just ask.

 

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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/

Follow Him on Free Life Blog: https://myfreelifeblog.com/

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Wisdom From God

  Wisdom From God

The Wisdom Of This World Is Foolishness With God

 

 

Something that needs to be understood is the explanation of wisdom.

There's a worldly wisdom and a wisdom that comes from God. ( 1 Cor. 3:18-23)

There's knowledge and there's understanding. (Col. 1:9, 1 John 5:20, Rev. 13:18, Hebrews 5:11-14)

Have you ever met someone who was book smart, but had no common sense?

That's the difference between knowledge and worldly wisdom.

You gain knowledge by studying and learning. You gain wordly wisdom by living. Street smarts so to speak.

Earthly understanding is when you can apply both of these things and know how they connect and can use them properly.

Look at a mechanic. He might learn a lot about cars from books and classes. That's knowledge.

He might be able to repair a car with ease because he has done it over and over. 

 

When he was a kid, he was under the car with his dad getting told to hold the light straight. That's wisdom.

He can manufacture, and build you a functioning engine, because he understands how it works. He knows how the whole thing goes together. That's understanding.

Now, we apply these same concepts to spiritual things. Because earthly knowledge, is not the same as heavenly knowledge. (John 3:9-12)

Worldly wisdom is not spiritual wisdom. God's ways are not our ways. Man's ways are foolishness with God. (1 Cor. 3:18-23)

 

"Give and it shall be given unto you..." This is a spiritual truth from Jesus. (Luke 6:38, Matthew 6:19-20)

 

But this is not earthly truth. Earthly truth says "horde, because tough times are coming."

 

Earthly wisdom says "Don't give money to that person, they might not use it right."
 

I'm not saying we shouldn't save for a rainy day. I'm pointing out the difference between earthly and spiritual wisdom. There are many spiritual truths which contradict the earthly. The world says we should fear things. God says we should trust Him instead. The world says to get revenge. God says "Revenge is mine" (Rom. 12;19)

Humans are fallen. We cannot see or understand the ways of the Spirit. We are born into this world where it makes sense to save up for a rainy day. We know there are lots of rainy days in life. It's a fact.

This is why we must battle in ourselves, and let our faith grow, so we can really trust God. We trust him by doing the crazy things that go against worldly wisdom. This leads us to see that He is there, and we can trust Him even more. But, if we are not faithful in the little things, then how can He trust us with the bigger spiritual truths, or more faith? How can we walk if we won't take our first steps? (Luke 16:10, Gal. 5:17)

Understanding of spiritual things comes through the Holy Spirit, and your willingness to let Him work in your life.

And that's the key.

The beginning, is to hear God's call. Realize you need Him. Believe Him, and turn to Him.

In Proverbs, it says "the beginning of wisdom is to fear God." (Proverbs 9:10)

You cannot "fear" Him, if you don't believe and hear Him. Your "fear" causes you to realize your need for Him and turn to Him. (Or Not)

When you know Him. You will understand what it means to "fear" Him.

It is not a worldly, fleshly, demonic fear. It is higher.

You must realize that you do not know everything. You need Him. You need to learn and grow. You cannot learn till you admit you do not know.

The wise of this world, think they know it all. They think they have it all figured out. They gather with others who think they know it all, and pat each other on the back. (Rom. 1:22, 1 Cor. 1:19-20, 1 Cor. 10:12)

They surround themselves with "Yes, Men" and do not listen to views outside their little circle.  They will never grow or hear or learn.

That's worldly wisdom. They are the ones who doubt spiritual things. They explain away miracles. They destroy beliefs in anything that doesn't match their Godless explanations of reality. Even if they include God, He is distant and able to be controlled by them. They believe He follows the rules they have made for Him.

Satan uses them, like he used the magicians in Pharoah's court and the Wiseman of Babylon, to cause doubt and keep people from knowing God. Those same wizards, magi, and alchemists, exist today. There is nothing new under the sun. (Eccl chapter 1,  Exodus Chapter 7, Daniel)

The Professors, Doctors, Scientists and even Religious leaders all hold each other accountable to the doctrines and learning they have built up. It's called peer review. They will not hardly allow anything new to be discussed. It's pride. They cannot accept that they do not know it all.

We can see this over and over again. Back in the past, a man named Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis said that doctors should wash their hands to help prevent infection. He was attacked by the establishment. They used to practice blood letting of patients, as a cure for disease.

 

How many things have the scientific community thought was true, only to learn they were wrong?  And usually destroyed a lot of careers until it was finally accepted.

 

"Trust the Science"  They say, while destroying you if you question it. Why trust people who are willing to destroy you? If something is good and true, it will become obvious.

Look at religion. Jesus himself was crucified because he taught things that rocked the boat of the establishment. Martin Luther rocked the boat of established beliefs. How many believers have been killed by the Establishment for serving God?

There's a difference between the puffed up knowledge of the learned, and the broken understanding of the prophet.

 

We are heading into a time of great deception. Jesus said, that it will be so bad that "Even the Elect" are in danger of being deceived. (Mark 13:20-23)

When the Establishment controls everything. When the Beast System is complete. Only the doctrine of the Establishment will be allowed to exist. All Professions, All Media, All Corporations, All Laws, Everything; will parrot the same ideologies, and you will not escape.

The brainwashing has been going on for a very long time. From childhood we are filled with the ideology of the New World Order to come. More and more psychological tricks and technologies will come into being to drive it into our brains.

We won't even be able to trust our own eyes, and ears and dreams. The intelligence of AI will be able to make arguments that cannot be refuted. All proof will turn to support the system. Deep Fakes will make us see things we cannot prove true or false. Virtual Reality will invade the reality.

The New World Religion to come, will give spiritual understanding that no one can deny with our fleshly mind.

It will draw away Christians into the Great Falling Away as the Anti-Christ makes war with the saints and overcomes them.(Rev. 13:7)

But, the Elect.

The true Elect who have turned to God and let Him save them and lead them into all truth with see through the deception. (1 John 2:27, John 16:12-15)

The Elect, who listen to the Holy Spirit and let Him grow them, having a relationship with the Lord.

By our testimonies we shall overcome Satan. Because what God has done for us in our lives cannot be taken from us or twisted into a lie. (Rev. 12:10-12)

Our testimony comes from our relationship, trust and faith in Him. It comes from knowing Him.

God is love.

God's wisdom is love.

Our flesh cannot comprehend it.

Only God in us can help us understand.

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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/

Follow Him on Free Life Blog: https://myfreelifeblog.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

What Is Godliness?

 What Is Godliness?

Can We Be Like God?

 

Godliness, in a nut shell, is being like God.

Now this explanation can bring up some problems, because who can be like God?

No one.

But, it's about trying to be like Jesus. He is God.

It's about trying to be like our heavenly father.

 

Jesus is an image of our heavenly father. (John 8:12-59)

We can see His traits and know Him, through Christ.

It's not about being omnipresent or ruling over everything.

 

It's not about hellfire and brimstone.

But, it's about His character.

Jesus said, " He let's the sun rise on the evil and the good." ( Matthew 5:45)

He is good, and does good things.  He doesn't destroy people every time they fail. He is long suffering.

He is kind. He seeks a relationship. He seeks to teach and to grow us.

God is Love.

He cares about His creation. He cares for the sparrow.

Jesus said, "what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?" (Matthew 7:7-12)

Godliness is not about obeying rules. It's about character. It's about doing the loving thing. The fatherly thing, and thereby obeying the rules as a by product.

God provided for Adam and Eve's needs in the Garden. They had everything they needed. 

Even when they fell, God showed up and set them on the right path.

He told them, "on the day you eat of it you will surely die." ( Genesis 2:17)

But, made His days, a thousand years long. (2 Peter 3:8)

Adam lived 930 years. He died on that day.(Gen. 5:3-5)

And when he died he went to Paradise above.

Clothed in those skins God gave Him. Like God gives us Jesus.

God is good.

That is Godliness.

To know Him and be like Him.

 

It is to comfort those in need. 

 

To give a drink of water. 

 

To cloth the naked. 

When He returns He will ask

"What did you do with the least of these?" Matthew 25:31-46)

What are you doing?

When we turn to Him and Confess Him as Lord. 

 

When we are saved and Know Him. 

 

When we walk with Him, like Adam in the coolness of the day. 

We will desire to be like Him. 

 

And He will work in us and through us to mold us into His likeness. (Romans 8:28-39)

In everything ask yourself, "What Would Jesus Do?"  WWJD.

That is Godliness. 

We cannot do it without His Spirit in us. We cannot do it without His salvation and sanctification.

Love people and be good to people. 

That is Godliness.

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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“  a collection of dystopian short stories.“The Future is Coming” and his latest book “The Latter Days‘ is a book on Bible Prophecy and avoiding the deceptions to come.

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

Follow Him on Free Life Blog: https://myfreelifeblog.com/

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

Support the work for the cost of a Coffee

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

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