Saturday, August 20, 2016

16-8-14 notes (late I know)

Demons exist, we either consider ourselves sophisticated enough to ignore them or we blame them for every bad thing that comes along. What is true - we have a sin nature that bends us toward being disobedient to God, a lot of times its our choice to be disobedient. Demons are beings that can suggest courses of action of disobedience. They can't make us, it becomes our choice, but they can suggest, and suggest and suggest. They can also possess us, if we listen to their voices and do what they suggest enough they will make their home with us, and our disobedience to God becomes our nature, when called on it they can suggest we that are so used to obeying their suggestions get violent. The seven sons of Sceva beat up the those that would cast out the demons, try to break the cycle of control. How is that possible? Those casting out had the knowledge that the sons were under control by spritual beings but they themselves weren't under control of the Holy Spirit. Not having the Holy Spirit they weren't protected and the demons in the seven sons caused the sons to become physically violent - beating up the others, in a way showing a false strength, a false control.

The Holy Spirit is the voice of the Lord in our head, demons can provide other voices, and we ultimately decide which voice to listen to. Any course of action not aligned with the voice of the Holy Spirit is sin. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit - recognizing the voice of God but rejecting that voice and guidance as not being of God is the unpardonable sin. Once we do that, we have denied the Creator and there is only the one voice of His in there. So we're rejected all guidance, and He will not speak anymore if we are not seeking Him.

The Bible is God's recorded word that we can contemplate and compare to the thoughts in our minds that we either think on our own or get suggested to us by the spritual influences (demons), or the Holy Spirit. The Holy Sprit's suggestions will always align completely with God's word, the other suggestions may be close to alignment but could fail to align in one point. As we walk with the Lord we have to learn to completely align with Him. Only the Holy Spirit tells the truth, the whole truth, everytime.

As to actions, we don't learn morality by trying things out, we are moral by following the highest standard we know or our influenced by (the Holy Spirit). In the Bible death came from eating (experiencing) the forbidden fruit, which came about as a rejection of the Lord's standards. The devil was there to question what the Lord had said, to create that doubt, to lie to us. To get us to question like those thoughts that come to our minds today. "Take every thought captive", some our not from the Lord but rather deceiving spirits. Once the fruit was eaten there was consequences, Adam and Eve were stained, they were changed (even before God called them on it), they knew they had not done what was best (follow His standard) and it forever affected them. They became self aware- naked and covered themselves.

Our intellectual part will talk us into trying things(or try to) but to be moral we have to be obedient to His highest standard. God has given us this ability because he wants us to choose relationship to Him, but it also means we can reject His ways. The "moral compass" that is often referred to in people isn't possible apart from relationship to the Lord. Otherwise morality is from us, and people will do what is right in their own eyes, to the standard they have set up and it almost certainly won't match others.

The basis of His standards is that we all can coexist without anyone being bullied. When we reject His standards people get hurt - in some cases die, and the basis of his standards He'll show us if we can be unselfish enough long enough to see it. If we can realize the world is about us all living together and that no one of us is more special than another.

In church alter calls, "slip up hand", who are we serving, be a fool for the Lord. Its an admission that we're often more focused on what men think rather than serving the Lord. What keeps us from going fully into God? Burn bridges, fully rely on God, grow.

Anyone truly walking with the Lord, without some area needing to be submitted to His ways, would probably be taken like Enoch.

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