Pounced on, attacked, and harassed by demons - not so according to psalm 91!

I'm looking at psalm 91! And contrasting it to what I've been taught.
"When you are doing Gods will, expect to be attacked and bashed and harassed by the devil!"

Yet, in reading psalm 91 " Yes, because God's your refuge, the High God your very own home, Evil can't get close to you, harm can't get through the door." This is a completely different message.

Another section says, " Fear nothing—not wild wolves in the night,not flying arrows in the day, Not disease that prowls through the darkness, not disaster that erupts at high noon. Even though others succumb all around drop like flies right and left,no harm will even graze you. You'll stand untouched, watch it all from a distance, watch the wicked turn into corpses."

So why the the teaching that if you do Gods will, you'll get attacked left and right? Is it a simple lack of understanding of who God is? Or is it something else? A way of discouraging stepping out in faith? A form of control? A distraction and a hinderance? A lie!?

Yet, it is preached by "Christians"! No wonder the church is confused and apathetic!

Essentially, the teaching is that if you step out and get "on the front line" you'll be pounced upon by every demon in existence. It also teaches that God is weak and unable to protect His own! Psalm 91 tells a completely different story. A biblical and truthful story - that if you abide in the shelter of the Most High - nothing can hurt you! "Stepping out" needs to happen when you are going where God wants you to go, and when He wants you to go there - otherwise "stepping out" is exactly that - stepping out from under Gods protection!

I know where I'd rather be...

May Gods blessings shower down upon you. And may you be coated in the dust of your Rabbi!

Australian Watcher On The Wall
http://australianwatcheronthewall.blogspot.com.au

Massive satellite ears and tiniest of whispers...

I had this thought, and it kinda smacked me in the back of the head!

Ok, a little background before I get to the thought, which is actually more if a question!

I was taught that you only need the tiniest of whispers to speak to the devil, i.e., telling him where to go. Yet, if I read certain things, (this is only surface reading, not any indepth study), the bible has a passage that talks about the devil going back and forth across the earth, basically seeing what he can see.

My understanding of the devil is that, unlike God, he is NOT omni-anything! God is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent, He sees all and knows all and hears all. So, logically speaking, if God is that, and the devil is nothing more than a CREATED being, how, if he happens to be roaming in America,  can he possibly hear my tiniest of whispers in Australia? Unless he has ears the size of giant satellite dishes!

Yes, one or more of his minions might hear, but, again, my understanding is that there is a limited number of them too! So, the chances of the devil or one of his minions hearing my tiny whisper is getting smaller and smaller!

Next question, what if the devil or one of his cohorts happens to be in the building or with a person? Surface level reading again, the bible doesnt say that Jesus whispered to any demons. He spoke normally to them. What he spoke was usually something along the lines of shut up and get out. One exception is where we get a "conversation" with legion! But if you look a little deeper there, do some study in the way Jesus spoke, you will find his question was asked to the MAN and NOT the demons! And again, not tiniest whisper!

My conclusion:because the devil and his limited number of cohorts/minions cant be everywhere, all the time, knowing and hearing everything, when you or I stumble across one or more of them, we should speak calmly, and plainly to them in a manner much the same way as Jesus did - shut up and get out!!  Oh, and I think that it is only God who hears our tiniest of whispers!

I think I'll add this one to the list of crap I've been taught! Here's an idea, test everything anyone has ever told you about anything! Its not only how you learn, but its also how you limit you chance of some "wise" person deceiving you! Not everyone gets everything right 100% of the time! Only Jesus, God the Father or the Holy Spirit can do that! (Yes, even I screw up and make mistakes - I am human after all)!

If you have any questions - go ask God! He's the one most highly qualified to answer every question you have! Asking me may get you a right answer, but it may not!

May Gods blessings shower down upon you. And may you be coated in the dust of your Rabbi!

Australian Watcher On The Wall
http://australianwatcheronthewall.blogspot.com.au

And another piece of dragon skin falls to the floor!

People need time to to see and admit they have crap (baggage, sin, unforgiveness, resentment)...

When God rocked up to my lounge room. For an instant, it was like He held a huge mirror. I looked. I saw. I turned away. Disgusted. Repulsed. Yet – He still loved. It was me I saw. Me. I cant even begin to describe what I looked like! I recognised me, but I didn't. I think that it was only by Gods help that

I recognised me. Here I am – years later. Waiting for him to continue pulling off the dragon skin piece by piece! I tried for years to pull it off myself, and found the struggle to be exhausting. I required help!

Help requires submission. And there lies the problem. Faith. Trust. For me – both of those blown apart! Not just shattered. Exploded. Gone.

 Submission requires trust. How do you submit when you have no ability to trust?

 He came. He saw. He loved. He held. When I couldn't, He did!

Submission requires faith. How do you submit when you have no understanding of faith and how it works?

 He came. He showed. He gave the ability. He brought to life what others had killed. Him. Only Him.

The One who has the power to create heaven and earth. The One who has the power to raise Christ from the dead. He saw. Me. He looked. He didn't turn away. He wasn't repulsed. He wasn't disgusted. He opened His arms and said, lets do this together. He still says lets do this together.

 He gave. Life for my death. Faith for my lack. Love for my hate and anger. More love for my rage. And healing where I needed it most. He gave forgiveness for my unforgiveness. He gave grace for my crimes. He gave mercy. And He gave yet more grace.

 Talk about long-suffering! Abounding in love and slow to anger! That's what His word says about Him. Abounding in love and slow to anger. Me – I was abounding in hate and quick to anger! Yet, He still saw. He still loved.

And another piece of dragon skin falls to the floor!

 I am the fiery dragon, hell bent on keeping all at bay. Only One can get through my defences. Only One has the power to survive my fire! And He doesn't come with a sword to kill. He comes with love. To heal. To transform. To rescue. To make free.

 He doesn't bring chains. He breaks them. Where others have tried to tame the wild beast. He sits and waits. Waits for the beast to learn that He will not cause more harm. While there will be pain as chains are removed. He does not come to cause harm! He comes to bring healing and freedom.

 People think that one should heal the beast before setting it free. But healing can't happen while it is in chains.

His wisdom runs deep!

He understands the heart. He formed the heart. He sets the beast free, then heals it! Transforms it into the person He created it to be!

And another piece of dragon skin falls to the floor!

absolutes, humanistic beliefs, the world falls into caos!!

I sat down today to do some more of my current assignment. And I looked at the statement I had made about Jesus having absolute authority over everyone! Then this thought hit me: Humanistic psychology doesn't believe that! But then that thought continued into the following:

If there are no absolutes, as humanistic psychology believes, then I don't have to surrender myself to Jesus or enthrone Him as Lord. I can keep myself as lord instead.
 
Having no absolutes removes from me the need for God. I can then be free to do what ever I want to whomever I want, and I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. And because there are no absolutes, truth is now relative, and no longer fundamental and absolute, I can say that there is no truth. And because of all this, God obviously doesn't exist! Or maybe He or She does exist! There are no absolutes after-all! I wasn't there when this world happened, I can not definitively say how it did or didn't happen!
 
Oh look, the very first problem that has arisen from a lack of absolutes is indecision! I cant make up my mind, I cant decided things, I can no longer sleep at night, because my indecision is driving me insane!
 
And because God either does or doesn't exist, He or She either did or didn't create humans! And this lack of absolutes leaves far more than just the foul taste of indecision, it has left an uncertainty of creation! The creator either does or doesn't exist, so earth either was or was not created! Meaning that humans either were or were not created. But, this opens the door for some instability!
 
Lets just believe this piece of obvious rubbish over here called evolution! It's got some very major holes in it, but at least it has stability. Either that or we could believe this other theory or idea... that earth was populated with animals and humans by aliens. That gives an element of stability too!
 
And because there are no absolutes, people can believe what they want! And, because either having had crawled out of pond scum, or left abandoned by aliens, means I can still do whatever I want! I can still enthrone myself as lord!
 
And because humans either crawled out of pond scum or were left abandoned, human life is hardly sacred. We were left on our own, to our own devices. I can do what I please – included in that is my right (because I am my own lord, I now have rights) to kill my unborn baby, and anybody else’s unborn babies for that matter! I can declare that is it is a right to kill... we can now kill the unborn, we can now kill the old, and in that we will add the disabled, and the useless, and pretty soon there will be no-one left but me!
 
And if I decide I need to kill my neighbour, I can claim temporary insanity, if I pay my lawyer enough he or she will get me off with minimal requirements on my behalf! And I can go on telling the ever widening void in my heart to shut up and sit down, because I am lord!
 
I am the only one who cares about me, I am the only one who’s going to look after me, so I'm going to do whatever it takes to get me to where I want me to be! (No matter to those who gets trampled underfoot!)
 
And if I am a leader of a country, then I'm going to use all my practiced ambition, manipulation, abuse and whatever else to take over that country over there (because I want the land and its resources more than they do!). And because, today, I'd like to believe that some of humans are not as advanced or as evolved as the rest of us, I'm going to say to my citizens that those in that country no longer deserve to exist. We need the land and resources more than they, and we are more advanced or evolved than they! Thus, genocide has been legitimised! Those less evolved or less advanced beings no longer have the right to live!
 
I am my own god and I am president – I can do whatever the hell I want!
 
And it is now, with shock, dismay and enraged anger that someone would dare tell me that God does in fact exist, that there are in fact absolutes, that I am a sinner, that I need saving.
 
How dare they present to me their archaic beliefs. How dare they speak to me about the things I have fought for years to silence in my heart! How dare they tell me that heartless aliens didn't seed earth. How dare they tell me that humans didn't evolve from goop! How dare they tell me that there is a benevolent God who loves me, cherishes me, died for me and offers me grace and forgiveness!
 
What's worse than all that is that this God now demands that I shift my carcass off my throne and put Him there instead! They tell me that I don't have the qualifications to rule the world, let alone myself! And they tell me that there is nowhere in the universe where I can get those qualifications!
 
I spent years silencing this in my heart, and it is as if they have been secretly listening to my hearts silent screams! How dare this God come to the fore! How dare He and His followers upset my equilibrium! And now, I am pushed into the corner and my only response is to remove all trace of this God from the constitution, schools, workplaces, hospitals, homes, heads and hearts! And if they don't want to let it go, then they can go – to prison, or worse! I simply can not accept that I am a sinner and need anything!
 
I did all this myself! I had no help. Where was God when I prayed for the abuse to stop? He didn't answer, because He didn't exist! I stopped it! So why do I need someone else to save me? I already did that! Why do I need a saviour? I've been on my own for so long! Why did some Gods son feel the need to die for me?
 
I know how this world works – you do everything you can to get everything you want, everything you don't want and everything that is left over that you might want, but don't need! Then, you die … alone … cold … hungry … with no friends! So what is the point of wanting or having a saviour?

How do you share the good news of Jesus with a person in this state of mind? How does one introduce this person to Jesus?

atonement

Jesus died on the cross to give us atonement, which refers to the forgiving or pardoning of sin through the death of Jesus Christ. The implications of atonement for Christians are huge! 

Firstly, Jesus was our substitute (Hebrews 9:28, 1 Timothy 2:6, Mark 10:45). Part of atonement is justification, which is where God removes the sin of the guilty and counts them as righteous, because of Christ's obedience and death.

The next part of the process is reconciliation, which refers to the removal of enmity or sin between humans and God. This was done so we could have relationship with Him and He could “walk with us in the cool of the evening”, as He did in the garden with Adam and Eve.

Propitiation is the removal of Gods wrath with the gift of Jesus. God had wrath because of our sin, Jesus became our gift by dying in our place. (1 Thessalonians 5:9) Because of love and the offer of atonement, we swapped places.

Redemption is the last part. It is being set free from bondage, or sin, by payment of a price, Jesus. Because of redemption, we get union with Christ. We are redeemed by God, and are now able to live in obedience to Him out of our love for and gratitude to Him.