25. LESSONS I HAVE LEARNED.

“The steps of a good man are ordered by The Lord.” Prov 16.9. I have recently turned another year older and am surprised that it’s taken me this long to understand, acknowledge,and accept the simplicity of God’s word. To know that He says exactly what He means, without us putting our own spin on it. Or if situations don’t quite suit us making changes; blaming the culture, language or ignorance of Biblical times, etc. God is God and I believe He knew then and still knows what He was and is saying and doing. Also I believe, If one professes to be a Bible believing Christian, that should mean they believe the entire Bible, not just the pieces they are comfortable with. For instance:-- there are those who don’t want to believe in Hell, . Yet it says quite emphatically, in several places, (look it up, Google it) that Hell is a specific place, and warns us against heading in that direction. Angels is another point some people seem to have their own opinion about, but Scripture mentions them as real messengers sent by God, on particular errands and some even get mentioned by name. eg Gabriel and Michael. Of course these people have a “field day” in the book of Revelation, and put it all down to John’s extended years or his inability to accurately describe what he saw and thereby resorted to fantasy. The Bible has hundreds of prophecies in it, most of which have already been accurately fulfilled except those pertaining to the book of Revelation therefore there is no reason to think that this prophetic book will not also be fulfilled to the letter in God’s timing, In fact, God’s written and spoken Word is being fulfilled everyday as we live through this final generation. I find it difficult to understand why some people can’t take The Holy Bible as the Word of Almighty God and accept it as it is written. There is no place in Scripture that says it is going to be easy, convenient or comfortable, but, it is the only true path to Heaven given by the Creator of the Universe Himself, and He should know. Most of us these days have a gadget in our cars called a GPS. It is a clever little thing that shows us the best, but not always the quickest way to reach a given destination. It tells us when and where to turn. When we are exceeding the speed limit, even if we are heading for a potential accident, some I’ve heard, will tell us how far it is to the nearest Service Station. No guessing, no problems no confusion, all sorted. Recently I have come to the realization that I have my very own built in Devine GPS “The Holy Spirit.” If we allow Him, He will choose our destination, the route and the timing of our mission, by listening to Him I have learned four valuable lessons, which I’d like to share with you… . 1 Faith and Trust;--This was the most difficult and took the longest to learn. But, without it nothing else works. I had to learn to believe, trust and depend on God even in contrary circumstances. If we have prayed and asked God to show us His Will in a given situation, we must not doubt. Even if it doesn’t make sense. I had to learn to trust His Word, keep praying and believing. God honours our faith and perseverance. In this way I learned patience (which is not one of my strong points) to depend on God rather than on myself I found it extremely difficult. I assumed I knew all the twists and turns of life which made me act without consulting God. Like Samson I reckoned I had figured out just how the system worked and when Delilah sold him out and the Philistines bound him with ropes a third time, he thought he would handle things as he always had “I will do as before and shake myself free.” he said, but he didn’t realise his arrogance had caused The Lord to leave him (Judges 16.20) The most valuable lesson I learned here was, if I wanted to live a victorious life, I had to humbly, take God at His Word. In (John 15.5) “Without Me you can do nothing.” If you believe and act on that Word, you will be victorious. 2. The second lesson I learned was—I had to change my perspective. I didn’t always look where I was going, but I always ended up where I was looking. This cost me dearly. So what was the answer? As It slowly became clear, I found I had to start looking in the right place, or I would end up like David who, after paying the price for following his own lower impulses changed his perspective and prayed in Psalm 141.8 “My eyes are fixed on You Lord” I am convinced that unless our perspective is on The Lord we run the very serious risk of our choices and direction in life going completely astray. Our perspective always determines our choices and direction in any area of life. So keep looking to The Lord, listening for His leading. 3 The third Lesson I learned was –The secret of prayer, there is no substitute for Prayer, I had to learn about keeping in communication with God I used to feel lost in unfamiliar territory, uncertain of what my next move should be, but God used those times to get my attention, to call me back to Himself, to encourage me to talk to Him, I gradually learned to lean on Him, to regard Him as my unfailing source of strength and wisdom rather than trying to figure out everything myself. In Jeremiah 33.3 God tells us “Call to me and I will tell you things you don’t know and I will answer you.” So I’ve learned to take my problems to The Lord and ask Him for the solution. He hasn’t disappointed me yet. Also James tells us “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” That means always saying, doing and thinking the right thing, check your motives, remember, God knows and sees everything about you, we can’t hide anything from Him. That’s not as easy as it sounds, why? because the right thing is not the first thing that comes into our minds. You see, human nature says “Keep out of trouble, blame someone else, hide the truth, plead ignorance. The Word says “Bare one another’s burdens, take the blame to save another, show kindness while standing up for the truth, making sure no one gets hurt or damaged. No! it’s not easy, in fact sometimes it’s very hard but, True Christians are required to take the high road which leads to Glory. 4 Patience---I had to learn The power of Patience, this was not easy for me to achieve and I don’t think Ive mastered it yet. Whenever The Holy Spirit puts a goal or dream in my heart, I want to be quick on the trigger and have it happen overnight. I had to learn that timing is crucial, it is in God’s hands and under His control not mine, I also had to learn that waiting for God’s timing is not a waste of time, it is essential to develop two qualities in all of us which nobody can have too much of, and only God can give, they are Faith and Hope; Romans 8.25 tells us “If we hope for what we don’t yet have we wait for it patiently.” So while I am learning patience, God is at work arranging things on my behalf and at the same time producing Christ-like qualities in me. The psalmist said his hope was in God. So I have to constantly ask myself what or who is my hope in?.. My Family, Good Luck, the Economy, the Doctor’s Prognosis?... As long as my hope is in anything other than God’s unfailing love and goodness I will wrestle with uncertainty for the rest of my life. So what’s the answer? Mine is found in Psalm 112.7“My heart is steadfast and trusting in The Lord.” I hope you don’t take as long as I did to learn the above lessons, they have changed my life greatly and I wish I had learned them earlier, they would have saved me a great deal of time, blood, sweat and tears.!!! God bless and teach us all something new today. Phaline. --------------------------

24. TEMPTATION MATT 4. 1-11.

Although temptation is not sin, it is something that dogs every one of us everyday and let’s face it, we give in to it much more than we’d possibly like to admit. However, if it is not dealt with it will take over and what was just a temptation becomes much more than just that, it becomes SIN. We all have our own Battlegrounds in some cases they are things we surrendered to years ago that now lurk in our innermost thoughts. That’s why The Scriptures warn,”Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it springs the issues of life. ” Max Lucado writes, “I’m at a desk in my hotel room far away from home, the voices that encourage are distant, the voices that entice are near, A placard on my night- stand invites me to the Lounge “to make new friends in a relaxing atmosphere.” Another on the TV that promises late-night movies “that will make all my fantasies come true” In the phone book, several columns of escort services that offer “Love away from home” Voices, some for pleasure, some for power. The world hammers at your door, Jesus taps. The world offers fleshly pleasure, Jesus offers us a quiet dinner… with Him… “I will come and eat with him and He with me” (Revelation 3.20) Which voice will you obey? You ask How should I handle tempting situations? In two ways, first by filling your mind with Scripture so that your first response is always “it is written” second by keeping your eyes on Jesus who said “If your hand should cause you to sin cut it off and cast it away, it would be better to go to Heaven minus a hand than to go to hell with both your hands.” He said the same about one’s foot and eye. In other words, don’t look, touch or walk in the direction of where temptation is leading you. That’s how strongly Jesus felt about anything that causes sin in our lives. That’s why I have chosen to write about temptation, There is no sin without temptation and, temptation ALWAYS comes before SIN. And that’s the time and place to deal with it. So how do we handle temptation before it handles us. I thought we might see how Christ handled it and also bring out a few ideas of my own which I have picked up on my Christian walk, The best way of all is to throw Scripture at it, that is what Jesus did and it worked. I thought we could look at the temptation of Jesus in the desert. In Matthew 4.1. We read, “Jesus was led by the Spirit in to the desert to be tempted". Not led by the Devil, not by any earthly desire of His own, not even by any weakness on His part, but by the Holy Spirit Himself. Why? Because this is the perfect example of how God works with the people He has chosen to be in His Fighting force against Satan and his Minions. There has been war between Heaven and Hell ever since the fall of Adam and Eve. Once we make a choice to follow Christ we have been enlisted into God’s Army against sin, death and Hell. We can’t join any army without going in to training camp for several weeks or months. One can have all the commitment in the world to the cause, but if you don’t know how to handle yourself, you are a lost cause and no use to yourself or to the other people around you. When Young people go in to training, they are up at dawn, running for miles with a heavy pack on their backs, crawling under barbed wire barriers with bullets flying all around them and listening for orders from somebody they don’t know and don’t like. But, when they pass the test, they get to proudly wear the uniform. If we want to wear the uniform of Jesus Christ, we too have to pass the test. Jesus being God, was also fully man and as such He also had to pass the test, He shows us here how to combat temptation and also see how the enemy (Satan), works and the tactics he uses. Let’s look at these temptations and see how Jesus handled them and how they apply to us The First attack, (Mat.4 v3.” Turn these stones into bread.” The first area Satan will attack is our senses, A couple of examples are:-- Adam and Eve with a rosy red apple. David with a beautiful woman.. and Esau with a bowl of stew. It’s an interesting exercise to go through Scripture and see how greed and Lust dominated the lives of so many people. It is no different to-day, one can look at T.V. any day of the week and see the foothold the devil has on people’s lives in just these two areas. Was Jesus hungry? Of course He was, He hadn’t eaten for forty days, but He knew from his forty days training that He had to put His spiritual needs first and if He did that, God would take care of His natural needs (food) And so He was able to say in Matt 4.4 “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Only when we are convinced God will take care of our natural needs will we start putting Spiritual needs first in our lives. Until that happens we think we have to take care of ourselves. As a result, we walk in fear that our natural needs wont be met. and not in Faith. That is not how God wants us to live. Matt 6.33. “Seek FIRST the Kingdom of Heaven and ALL these things WILL be added unto you.” When we worry about the natural we are telling God we don”t trust Him. Because when we trust God we don”t have to worry. I know it’s easier said than done, but we just have to ask ourselves one question, Has He ever let me down? The Second attack The attack on the pinnacle Matt 4v5 “The devil took Him up into the Holy City and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple” If Satan hasn’t got us through our senses, he will try fear and failure, he will tell ,you “You are on the pinnacle of success now, but you can easily fall off” he will remind you of your past failures, your inadequacies and short comings and tell you “You’re just not good enough, People will not respect you any more.” How do we handle this sort of temptation? When the devil told Jesus to jump what he was saying is “You can do anything if you are the Son of God” And he’ll say to us “If you are a Christian The Bible says God will protect you.” As soon as he starts quoting Scripture, be on your guard, He knows Scripture better than you or I do and he’ll use it to his own advantage. . So all we have to say is “I will not tempt The Lord my God. Nor will I put Him to the test”. God does not have to justify Himself to anyone particularly not the devil. It has to be said here that there are two kinds of fear, Healthy and unhealthy fear. Healthy fear will keep us dependent on God, it will protect us from Pride and self-sufficiency (1Cor.10.v12.) says “Therefore let him who stands take heed lest he fall.”(That means don’t get proud stay dependent on God). The unhealthy fear will keep you in the boat when Jesus is calling you to walk with Him on the water, having Faith doesn’t mean at times you won't experience that sinking feeling that Peter did, But we have a choice, we can give into fear or trust in the God who has called us, sustained us and never failed to give us the strength to cope with whatever we’re facing, If our own intellect and talents are the bases of our confidence we have good reason to fear, but if God is the bases of our confidence we have nothing to fear. That is a good adage and worth keeping in mind, asking ourselves,Where does my confidence lie at this particular time in this particular situation. The third attack. Matt. 4.v9 “All these things I will give you.” Satan”s final temptation was over the cross-less life. He showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and that’s what He’s showing you and me And what is he saying to you and me? “You don’t have to take up your cross everyday, You can have the world, all its Bright lights, all it’s good times, and all the pleasures this world offers I will give it all to you if you will just follow me,” And He was saying to Jesus ‘You don’t have to carry that cross just bow down and worship me and you can have it all. In Scripture Jesus calls him “The Prince of this World” and so he is, but not for much longer for the time is coming when this world and all that is in it will be under the feet of Jesus Christ and Satan knows this very well and wants to take as many of us as he can with him. Don’t join him. In Matt.4.10. Jesus says “Away with you Satan you shall worship God alone and Him only shall you serve.” In Galatians 2.v20 Paul writes “I have been crucified with Christ it is no longer I that lives, but Christ who lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Has God promised to bless us? Absolutely He has, but that doesn’t mean we’ll never get hurt, or face lack or fatigue, or be betrayed and disappointed by others, we are living among other Human Beings most of whom don’t know Jesus Christ or much about Christianity, be kind and patient with such people God will Bless, help and keep you safe, He will give you the right words to say to them. This will not always be easy or comfortable and sometimes take a deal of humility, but this is what Jesus meant when He said in John 12.v24. “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies (to self) it remains alone, but if it dies (to self) it produces much.” To get to that new level of blessing, we have to die to our own Pride,Wills and Selfishness, this is a daily process and if we are willing God will lead and help us along the path that leads to Glory. It’s His Kingdom we are fighting for, all we have to do is sew a Faith seed. This can be done in several easy ways, By just talking to someone about Jesus or about what God has done for us, or By the life-style we live, or even by just refusing to do something that you’re not happy about doing. A smile and a kind word goes a long way with some people in this lonely yet busy, hostile world. Yes, we can have it all now if we are willing to put our eternal life in danger, but we all know someone who has done just that to their cost. That’s why we spend so much time in prayer for our loved ones, please God He will hear our prayer and turn them around. Thank you for reading these thoughts on temptation, I hope it has helped us all to understand this topic and how to handle it a little better. May Almighty God Bless us and open our minds and hearts to His unchanging Word. Phaline. -------------------------

23. SURRENDERING TO GOD.

Why, What, How, When Surrendering to nature is an understanding we all have. When it’s cold we cover-up, when it’s hot we peel off, this is automatic. At a very early age we learn through our own or someone else’s experience to surrender to the law of gravity. We have to surrender and cooperate with the law of economics if we want to succeed in business. If we truly want to succeed in our relationship with God, we have to surrender to Him. This too has to be learned, and it will take longer for some of us than others. I believe this is a direct result of our self reliance, we don’t think we need God’s help, but we do; One of the first things a new Christian has to learn is His/Her reliance on God, because that is the anchor of Faith. Jesus said--”Without Me you can do nothing.” Contrary to some thinking, surrendering to God is wisdom, rather than weakness. Only a fool would resist God, because it’s a fight we can’t possibly hope to win. Understand this, it’s in surrendering to Him that we are empowered to succeed in what He has called us to do. Therefore surrender is empowered by demonstrated obedience. It is saying “Yes Lord” to whatever He asks. To say “No Lord is a contradiction. In Luke 6.46. Jesus speaking says “How can you call me Lord and refuse to obey me?” Peter demonstrated true surrender when Jesus told him to try again, he didn’t say “I know what I’m doing, I’ve been a Fisherman since boyhood, I know these waters there’s no fish running today.” What he did say was “We have toiled all night and caught nothing, nevertheless at your word I will let down the nets.” We have to have that “Nevertheless at You word” attitude. So, whether Fisherman or Airline Pilots, Single Mums or Doctors when He says try again, take Him at His word. When Peter did that, “They caught a great number of fish.” There is a great deal to be said for taking Jesus at His word. After all it is the Word of God!, He is usually concise and to the point, that is why when writing I, like many other writers quote straight from Scripture, I believe Scripture says what it means and means what it says so, there can be no mistake. Surrendered people obey God, even when it doesn’t make sense. Abraham followed God without knowing where he would be taken...Hannah waited on God without knowing when....Mary expected a miracle without knowing how... Her husband Joseph trusted God’s plan without knowing why circumstances happened as they did. Each of these people and many other ordinary people just like ourselves learned to be fully surrendered to God and they came out on top. Surrendering means giving up the driver’s seat and moving over. (And not being a back seat driver.) How will we know when we are fully surrendered to God? This will only happen when we rely on God to work things out for us, instead of trying to Manipulate circumstances or other people, Forcing our own agenda, or attempting to Control situations. We don’t have to be in charge, we simply let go and let God have His way. It goes something like this, “Dear God I’d really like that lady for my wife, or that Job, House Car etc..----and leave the matter with Him (Surrender it) this has a double effect, 1. it will stop coveting and 2. the problem will belong to God, because you have surrendered it to Him first. If you do that with everything you have you will own nothing and God will own everything in your life. (Sounds silly?, it is, but it works!!) Jesus said “Cast ALL your cares on me because I care for You.” Take Him at His Word. I did and that’s how I know. When we start doing things God’s way instead of our own way, we experience great benefits. First we have peace. Job Ch 22 v21 says “Submit to God and you will have peace and things will go well with you.” Second we will have freedom...Psalm 119. v45. “I will live in freedom because I follow your orders.” Thirdly..We will have Power.. James 4. v7. “Submit to God resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Stubborn temptations and overwhelming problems are defeated by Christ the moment we surrender each area of our lives over to Him. It’s impossible to surrender everything at once, but one or two things at a time, and one day you realise, You and all you own belongs to The Lord. The freedom, peace and power that comes with that realisation is an out of this world experience. As Joshua, the General of the Israelite army approached the walls of Jericho he encountered God, he fell down and worshipped, surrendered his plans and said to Him “What does my Lord say to His servant.” Joshua Ch5.v14. Joshua’s surrender led to a spectacular victory. Here’s a paradox, victory comes through surrender. Surrender doesn’t weaken us it actually strengthens us. When we surrender to God we don’t have to fear surrendering to anyone or anything else. William Booth founder of the Salvation Army said, “The greatness of a man’s power is in the measure of his surrender. Eventually everybody surrenders to something, if not to God it will be to the opinions and expectations of others, to money, to resentment, to fear, to our own lusts or ego. We are free to choose whatever we surrender to, but we are not free from the consequences of that choice. Stanley Jones said “If you don’t surrender to Christ, you surrender to chaos.” The supreme example is Jesus Christ himself, the night before His crucifixion, surrendering to God’s plan for the Salvation of the human race saying “Your will and not mine be done.” and He is our example. Have you ever noticed how much energy it takes to keep a tight grip on something, Come on! We all know what we are holding on to, are you in turmoil because you can’t control the people or circumstances in your life. My advice is release your grip. Go ahead, surrender it to God, you’ll be amazed at how much more energy you’ll have and how much easier life will be. Once you’ve made the choice to surrender to God; your hardest days will become your easiest days. A.W. Towzer wrote “Father...my coward heart fears to give up its toys, I cannot part with them without inward bleeding and I do not try to hide from you my terror of the parting, I come trembling but I do come, please root from my heart those things which I have cherished so long and have become a very part of my living self, so that you may come and enter there without a rival.” When I first started writing this article some time ago, I had one question, Surrender what? God gave me a list, so I’ll give You what I was given, 1. YOUR POSITION As John’s wife I found my security, my identity and my commitment was all in Him. This seems very commendable, and virtuous but, This is not what God wants, He wont tolerate a rival, He has to have first place or no place. (that took a bit of working through) but now I truly understand what surrender really means. 2. YOUR PLANS We have to plan wisely but be ready for God to rearrange things and also be prepared for Him to take us along paths that may become uncomfortable. Nothing this side of heaven is permanent including relationships. Enjoy the time we have with our loved ones, in the knowledge that they first belong to God, and one day we will be separated for a little while before being reunited. Understand this and avoid the temptation to cling. 3. .OUR ANXIETIES If our emotions are wrapped around some issue, involving a possession a job a particular expectation or a relationship, we are not fully relying on God. NO we are still clinging to lesser things. STOP we have to let it go, although this is not easy or comfortable and in fact sometimes down right hard, but I can’t tell you the freedom it brings, knowing that God Almighty has everything about you and your life under His personal control, is truly worth every sacrifice you may make because now, He can trust you with all the blessings and surprises He has waiting for You. Think of Abraham, only when he was prepared to lay his most treasured possession on the line did God, not only give him back his son, but so much more and called Abraham his friend. The more we give to God, the more He will give us, why? Because He will not be outdone in generosity. Slowly I started handing my possessions over to God, then my habits and entertainments hobbies etc. He didn’t take everything off me at once, but somehow stuff didn’t hold the same attraction for me any more, and some He hasn’t removed. However, there was a certain satisfaction in knowing those things didn’t have the addictive hold over me any longer, some things were quite easy, others more difficult. And I had to remind myself that God was doing a work in me. However, when it came to my children, my friends and relationships, He showed me how much more He could do for them and me than I could do for us, and the bonds among us have grown even stronger. I now understand not only what God wants from us, but why He wants it, He wants the surrender of our hearts, our minds, our wills and eventually our whole beings, because only then can we be tools in the masters hand. When you relinquish your will to God, you live in a peaceful atmosphere, your dependence is on Him, and He takes care of everything. Yes, you will still go through the highs and lows of life but, He will be there with you and will see you through your darkest as well as your brightest times. He said “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you.” This comes through a strongly committed prayer life, the more we are committed to regular communication with God, (that’s what prayer is) the closer we are to Him and His Kingdom. Therefore, that too has to be cultivated. Prayer can’t be rushed, it is not a ritual nor can it be an add- on to our daily routine, that’s not putting Him first, No, praying is acknowledging God first, sitting in a quiet place with Him, listening and waiting in silence for Him to speak to you,.You will learn the sound of His voice, feel the closeness of His presence and experience the depth of His love. You will understand how communication with God becomes second nature to you, prayer like that, will then be something you can’t get enough of. Putting God first and spending quality time with Him each day in my opinion, is the only way we can develop a good, strong Faith relationship with Him Thank you for reading my thoughts on Surrendering our lives to God, There may be many restrictions on what we can and can’t do and where we can and can’t go these days, but, nobody can control our greatest weapon, (Prayer) so load up and fire at the installations that are aimed at us and we will see God’s hand at work as His army grows.. May God bless us all Phaline.

22 DEALING WITH YOUR GOLIATH. 1 SAM. 17.

Before reading this I suggest you read the above Scripture, keeping it handy, as we go through the story. I believe it will help. We all have had or will have a Goliath at sometime or other in our lives, some of us more than once or twice. We really don’t know how to handle these Giants , all we want is for them to go away. Your Goliaths can take the form of people, perhaps an Alcoholic or Abusive parent, partner, Teacher or Coach, A place in which we might have found ourselves where we were very frightened, or in a situation from which we were, unable escape. The story of David and Goliath has a number of lessons in it which you will find worth taking on board and bringing to mind on such occasions. The first thing to remember is;-- If you have given your life to the Lord, He will not allow you to be in a situation you can’t handle, or extricate yourself from. He says so in His Word. He will always be there to help you, equipping you with the necessary tools and His Grace. “Fear not for I am with you.” appears several times in Scripture, in both the Old and New Testament. Every time you call on Him it shows Him you believe in Him and trust Him to get you out of the mess you have found yourself in. That’s Faith. Cultivate it, it works. In this Scripture the Philistines had come to make war against the Israelites and take their land. Both armies set up camp on the hills facing each other, with a valley between them. The Philistines Champion named Goliath a Giant from Gath who was nine and a half feet tall, (about the height of your ceiling) dressed in a bronze helmet which made him look even taller, wearing bronze shining clanking scale armour, a Javelin slung on his back, and a spear in his hand with a shaft the size of a weavers rod hanging from his shoulder making him very wide, very fierce and very scary, This Giant from Gath came out of the Philistine ranks shouting his usual defiance, he had been doing this everyday for forty days and intimidating the Israelites. (Forty is a number that comes up several times in Scripture, When God destroyed the earth with the great flood, it rained for forty days and nights,Moses and the Israelites were forty years in the desert, Jesus fasted for forty days in the wilderness, there are forty days between the Resurrection and the Ascension of Jesus in to Heaven. And there are several other occasions. Where the number forty comes up. Nobody seems to have come up with a satisfactory explanation for this, but I thought I’d mention it for your future reference if and when things happen.) However, on this particular morning young David arrived with his brother’s lunch and heard all the noise and confusion. On enquiring and hearing Goliath’s threats against the people of God, he couldn’t believe such disgrace was falling on Israel and their God, I’m sure when he heard that King Saul had promised Great wealth, Tax exemption for his family and to give his daughter in marriage to the man who would rid him of this giant, (v25) that would have been an added incentive for David, who said “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the Living God.” His brothers heard him and told him to go home and back to tending his father’s sheep. So no support there,!!! David however, wasn’t going to be put off and went to King Saul himself, who also didn’t think he was up to the task and told him he was far too young, but David defended himself to the king saying “I’ve killed lions and bears with my bare hands when they came after my father’s sheep, I’d like a chance to have a go at this Blasphemer.”(v36-37) When The Lord is calling you to do a job for Him, you can be sure you will get opposition especially from your family and the Religious authorities. But when God sends you on a mission, He will guide, protect and be with you all the way. With reluctance King Saul agreed and ordered David to be dressed in the King’s own armour, but because David was only about seventeen or eighteen, the king’s armour was too big and heavy for him and he found he wasn’t able to walk in it. When you have a Goliath to fight, go to the Lord for your weapons not people, “Put on the whole armour of God” (Eph 6.10-17) This is very important, I believe every Christian should include those verses from Eph.6 each day in their morning prayers, especially these days in these troublesome times that’s what will win the battles of today. David removed the armour, picked up five stones and pulled out his Shanghai, ( Soft quiet speech will win people over much better than laying down the 10 Commandments.) This really upset Goliath, not only were the Israelites sending out a kid to fight him, but he wasn’t even dressed for the occasion nor did he have any of the regular weaponry. In fact The Giant was so insulted that he started with “the language’. Then David replied “You come against me with sward, spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of The Lord God Almighty, The God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistines army to the birds and the wild animals and the whole world will know, there is a God in Israel, all these gathered here will know that it is not by sward or spear that The Lord saves; for the Battle is The Lord’s and He will give all of you into our hands.” A word here about battling against Satan, I believe if we want and indeed need God’s help and intervention we have to call out to Him loud and clear by name (The Lord God Almighty) We are calling on His name, His power and His activity to descend on us as David did, Not because he has a hearing deficiency, but that everyone around us will know The Battle is the Lord’s and HE will fight for us and give us the victory, and HE will get the credit not us. Also we need to be specific, You see, we not only want God to be with us but we need His strength and ability to get the whole job completed. This requires Faith and confidence in God and His mighty Power. If we pray and ask God, He will give us this power and the victory. We can practise it with smaller things, as David did (Bears and Lions) God demonstrated His power with those animals in preparation for the Giant that was to come, also I believe David spent a great deal of time with God while tending his father’s sheep day after day. It was that developed relationship with God that gave David the confidence and strength he needed at that time. I believe there is no power without prayer and no prayer without power. A Casual prayer life will produce a casual powerless, weak relationship with God, whereas regular, sincere, heartfelt, prayer produces a sincere loving powerful relationship with Him.. If you have read the story from 1.Samuel 17 you will know that things happened just as David said they would. When you are on God’s side things happen, You will notice I said “When you are on God’s side, rather than when God is on your side.” Why? Because we are flawed, inhibited and have preferences. Whereas He is perfect and doesn’t have any of those characteristics. When you are on the side of God, The Spirit will lead you with Truth, Honesty and Integrity, these are God’s characteristics. But, this will only happen if you, (like Joshua) humble yourself and submit your plans to God, Then the walls will fall down and you will be triumphant but He will get the Victory not you or me. It will be a case of “see what our GOD can do. Not see what I can do.” It’s interesting to note in v 54 that David took the Giants head to Jerusalem, I would say to put it in his trophy cabinet, (Look what can be achieved when God is in control). And he put the Giant’s weapons in his own tent. Why? So he would always remember how useless they were in the presence of His God. Which reminds me of a story I heard about Muhammad Ali who once was flying interstate in America, and there was some turbulence, the captain asked all passengers to fasten their seat- belts, Ali didn’t cooperate with the request and when the hostess told him to do so he replied “Superman don’t need no seatbelt.” She instantly replied “Superman don’t need no aeroplane either.” Laughing he complied.---So we always need to keep the (Seatbelt) God’s armour fastened tightly around us, we never know when all we have left are those “Everlasting Arms.” Thank you for reading my thoughts on how to defeat the Giants that come into our lives, God will come to the aid of all who ask Him, especially those who cultivate a deep personal relationship with Him., God Bless, protect and preserve us all as w, with God’s help deal with the Goliaths that come into so many of our lives today. Remember,There’s no prayer without power and no power without prayer. There’s nothing Almighty God can not do for His children if they humbly sit at His feet and ask His help . Phaline. ------------------------

21. A BIT OF A CHALLENGE.

“How serious are we about Our Faith.” This time I am going to write about “Being in the World but not of the World.” As Christians we all like to think we are in the “Not of the World” category. But are we? Before going any further, I’d like to focus on Sodom and Gomorrah and just to refresh your memory please read Gen. Ch19.v1-11. Now, did Lot love his daughters any less than we love of our children? Did God not love them as much as He loved Lot or his visitors? Come on now, think rationally, God’s love does not discriminate, He doesn’t love men more than women or black people more than white or even parents more than their children or the other way around. So why did Lot even think about sacrificing his daughters to the men of that city? Answer, because it was the done thing. At that time, in that day and age, women were expendable and much lower in the pecking order, in fact they were absolute nonentities. Only useful for bearing children. So why didn’t he drown them at birth? Because being Abraham’s nephew, he knew, Human life was sacred and was a gift from God. But at that time, at that place, a woman’s life was worth less than sodomy. Remember he was foreigner in a foreign land and was expected to do things their way (in the world and not of the world) At sometime we all have to make that “in or of the world” decision. grow up and stand firm for what we truly believe. Lot didn’t do that. The bible tells us that Lot was a good man but like all of us he was being carried along by popular opinion and the laws of the day, of course he knew better but he was taking the line of least resistance. He thought if he fell in with what everyone else said and did then he’d be okay. Well we all know the story of how God intervened and the eventual result on Sodom and Gomorrah. I am trying to convey here that unless we get ourselves sorted, we will be in the same mess Lot found himself. Trying to please two masters. We can’t think God will always intervene as He did with Lot. Especially if we know better and choose to go the other way. We need to think very carefully about some of the decisions that are being made for us these days. We still have the right and the ability to say NO to some things that are being put before us. Use your rights while you have them, you don’t have to go along with the crowd. Think, what is this going to mean for me, my children and grandchildren? After reading this article. The main point I’d like you to remember is,--- THE MEDIA IS THE ENGINE ROOM OF LEGISLATION and therefore has to be very carefully scrutinized. It is said “The eyes are the windows of the Soul.” Have you ever thought that windows allow images both ways? Images have great power and one of the most powerful things that can be done is to create an image, but a more powerful thing is to destroy an image. Sighted people predominantly interpret the world through vision, hearing in most cases is a reinforcement of what is seen. In terms of building images, the entertainment industry is an expert, with the News Media increasingly delving into this realm. The film and media industry has taken on the role of image manufacturer with gusto. “The media is no longer informing the public but instead is now forming public opinion.” Do you agree? As for building images, many a politician has been built or destroyed by the media. Destroying images can be illustrated by the destruction of father figures, on and by television situational comedy. As I’ve said earlier the media is the engine that empowers the Liberal agenda. Our abortion reform laws, the anti smacking bill, the homosexual law reform act, euthanasia bill and homosexual marriage act, were all instigated by the Media. If that’s what the media and T.V. in particular is doing to countries, Governments and Parliaments what is it doing to you, your children and Grand children. Humour on T.V. is primarily based on ridicule, Psalm 1.1 says “You are blessed if you don’t sit in the seat of the mockers.” Conversely does a curse apply if one does sit in the seat of mockers? Every time we read, watch or see something we need to ask ourselves Who is trying to tell me what and why? Every time we turn on our T.Vs we are giving somebody access in to our lives and or the lives of our children. Even though we say things like “I just let all that violence, sex abuse and language go over my head.” Let me tell you(and I quote from two recent British and American studies which show) that E.C.G.’s of the brain when watching T.V. are most like when the person is asleep than at any other time. So nothing goes over our heads, everything goes through our eyes and ears into our brains and what goes in is stored there. Sooner or later what is said and done on T.V. will be the norm and be completely accepted by society. Watching T.V. or having it on all day as a number of people do exposes our brains to whatever the Media chooses to throws at us. Whatever is said and done is going through to our brain via our eyes and ears even if we are all but asleep while watching television. Those two senses have a direct input to our souls. What defences have we got? Those sounds and images are being wired directly in to our brains. The brain is not working, just absorbing whatever is being presented to it. We can’t excuse ourselves, what God has given us for good is being used or should I say abused for evil. The devil works in the most insidious ways, we as Christians know this, therefore we should not be putting ourselves where he can reach us. In The Lords Prayer we say “Lead us not into temptation,” so think about it this way--: Sex without love is okay Same sex relationships are okay Divorce is okay Abortion is okay Tax evasion is okay Homosexuality is okay Euthanasia is okay All these things are being presented to us everyday on our T.V. screens `and we are SLOWLY allowing ourselves to be poisoned, it’s worse than smoking, which just poisons the body. We need to take heed of the Scripture that says “Be more afraid of Him who can take both Body and Soul.” People imitate what they see and hear, like smoking, we older ones will remember the days when billboards advertising cigarettes always had a celebrity actor or actress, sports personality and even Winston Churchill with his famous cigar on the billboards, it’s no different today, the screens are doing the very same thing and why would the devil try something new when the old way still works, are we doing it all for him? He knows all he has to do is get it on screen and we’ll all follow like sheep. Then before we know it, there’s a law passed and we are stuck with it. I understand in Canada they have dispensed with Mothers and Fathers days and replacing them with Parents days, because children who are being adopted by Homosexual and Lesbian parents are getting confused and having identity problems!!! We must not kid ourselves, we are all human, like Lot, we will find excuses to justify ourselves in the areas about which I’ve written, but every time we become part of the world and its values we put ourselves in great danger. Like Lot we like to think we are good people. But unlike Lot we have the advantage of the New Testament, and all the insights of Paul and the rest of the great writers who have succeeded him. We know Our God is a Loving and Just God. Will He intervene? And are we prepared to take that risk? In Prov. 4.23. The Word of God says “Above all Guard your hearts” In closing I want to say I am not judging anyone, that’s not my job, and if I have offended anyone I’m truly sorry, However, I believe I received this message from the Lord and had to obey it. Thank you for reading God’s challenge to all of us today. I pray God’s blessing, guidance, preparation and protection on all His people in these troublesome times. Phaline.

20. PRAYER.

As a child, I was taught that PRAYER was lifting ones mind and heart to God. Try as I may I never knew if I ever achieved that lofty state. However one of the things I did discover in the process was, that prayer is not a substitute for work and to do it right demanded rigorous discipline. That’s why the ancient Saints knelt on cold hard floors in the middle of winter crying to the Lord. Attempting to assimilate themselves with the sufferings of Christ, we can be sure they didn’t drift off to sleep or their minds wonder away from the job at hand., the pain kept them focused on their prayer. Tradition has it that even the great apostle James spent so much time on his knees they became calloused and he was nick-named old camel knees. Prayer is a serious business and although I am not advocating flagellation, I do think we should give serious thought to whom we are praying and also to how, why and where we pray. God is not some casual acquaintance, He is the Creator and Master of the Universe and all that is in it. Often (if we are honest) we approach God with little more than an attitude of casualness instead of one of sincere faith and love. Although the ghosts of our Christian ancestors have dumped a deal of guilt on us resulting in an attitude of “No pain, no gain” Which I for one do not believe because, I can’t see God penalising His children or making them pay for their sins which He Himself has already paid for “By His stripes we are healed” What I do believe however, is that He does expect a contrite, humble and penitent heart which is truly sorry for having ignored, rejected or insulted Him, much like David said “Against You alone have I sinned” (that is true sorrow!) in those few words, David expressed his love for God, his true sorrow and His acknowledgement of who God is, this doesn’t have to be emotional, but it does have to be sincere. I believe our attitude to the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit should be one of humble submission, servitude and undying love, accompanied by a pure heart. This will bring us in to the very throne room of Almighty God where we can legitimately approach Him with our Praise,Thanksgiving and Requests. I also believe anything less than that is Pride. Maintaining a protocol can be a big help to us, it keeps us humble and prevents us from a familiarity with God which can so easily turn in to pride, like that of Lucifer. We are not equal with God, nor will we ever be, we have a relationship with Him not equality. When we have those death defying experiences and we need our God to act for us supernaturally, the first thought we have is, He is Almighty God, and there is nothing He cannot do, so our faith is not in His ability, but in His will to do it. Acknowledging this is where our faith must lie, It has to be in the fact that this all knowing God will do the very best for all concerned. Our God never has a failure or makes a mistake, sometimes this is hard to take, but if one truly loves God, acceptance of His will means our prayer has been answered, perhaps not the way we wanted, but we can be sure it is the right way. God can only do good, because that’s all He can do. Acceptance of this fact will keep you sane and strengthen your relationship with Him. I also discovered that prayer is not a religious exercise but a Human necessity, Human beings have been praying in one way or another, to one God or another for centuries. God doesn’t need us to pray to Him, the need is ours, we need a God to pray to. We humans have always prayed whether we called it that or not, we are devoured by something outside of ourselves, something beyond our reach, something spiritual or supernatural, a place to run to, to feel however slightly, that there is someone out there to cry to, someone who will take notice of our predicament and is capable of doing something about it. We long to escape the sense of crushing fate, the feeling that all things are fixed and are unable to be altered. That’s why I believe that prayer is much more than a religious experience it is actually a human necessity. As Christians we have been given the TRUTH OF GOD in His Word. Which other religions don’t have, therefore we can pray to a living God who understands all our problems and weaknesses, a God who is willing and prepared to help us through all the difficulties of life. The difference between us and Non-Christians is that we’ve been abundantly blessed by God Himself chosen and brought into a blood relationship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ and we KNOW we are in communion with the ONE AND ONLY TRUE GOD, Who has our best interest at heart. This is very important and something which we must always Understand, Believe, treasure and stand up for. This is what the Martyrs died for and in fact are still dying for in many countries of the world today. For a Christian, Prayer means we never have to say “There’s nothing I can do, we can always pray. We can achieve great things through sincere prayer. Things as great as Jesus did and even greater. (He said so) I believe prayer is the secret weapon of the Kingdom of God, it’s like a missile that can be fired undetected at the speed of thought from anywhere in the world to anywhere in the world and never fail to reach its target, it can even be fired with a delayed deter nation device. In His prayer in John 17-20 Jesus said “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.” This spans the centuries and embraces all who have believed or will believe in Jesus and all He said and did. Over two thousand years later, Jesus’ prayer is still being answered every time someone turns to Christ. The implications are staggering, we can pray for our children and grandchildren that are still unborn even after we have gone. Satin has no defence against this weapon, he does not have an anti prayer missile. Whereas the unbeliever has many defences, he doesn’t have to go to church or accept the tract you hand him, he can change the channel if things get too “religious” for him, he doesn’t have to open the door to you, he can hang up the phone when you ring, but there is no way he can escape your intercessory prayer. People we cannot reach any other way can be reached via the throne of Grace through intercessory prayer. Often we think God doesn’t want to answer our prayer, but if we have approached God with a pure heart there is no reason for Him not to hear or want the very best for us, so why don’t we always get what we ask for? First let me ask you just one question, Did you always give your children what they asked for? No, Why not? Was it because in your wisdom and understanding of that particular child you didn’t think it was appropriate at the time. Like any caring father God may substitute what His child asked for with something which would be much better for him, or He will show reasons for no immediate action, and sometimes He will change circumstances so that the reason for the request is no longer valid. This, in no way negates perseverance in prayer. Let’s recall the parable Jesus told in Luke 18. about the widow and the unjust judge who had no time for God or people. You will remember, this old woman was prepared to take on the “Beehive” the law, and the Tax Dept and whatever else.!!. And who was she? The most destitute of people, shut out, alienated and alone,There was no Social Welfare, no medical insurance or charitable programmes. In those days a widow was the most helpless of creatures. She had lost her provider and protector. She was now a symbol of all who were poor and defenceless. When Jesus chose a widow for the staring role in this drama, He was emphasising in the strongest way possible the weakness and helplessness of the person fighting for justice. You know, this could be any of us, Life is tough and we often find ourselves struggling against the odds to squeeze a little justice out of an unjust world. But we can do more than wring our hands in despair, we can do what the widow did and pray. Does prayer make a difference? It made a difference with the widow who had no influence, no money, no prospects going for her but she was relentless. Finally the judge says ‘Though I do not fear God or have regard for man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her lest her continual coming weary me. Luke 18 4-5 The next two verses were no accident, Jesus went on to say”And shall God not avenge His own elect when they cry to Him.” If an unjust judge will grant the request of this troublesome widow, how much more will our Heavenly judge hear our cry and vindicate our cause. Then Jesus rams home this question in verse 8. “Nevertheless when the Son of Man comes will He really find faith.” The construction of this question implies a negative answer. “I don’t think so!” Understand this, when He returns, Jesus will be looking for a certain kind of faith on the earth”This kind of faith” In the Greek this is a definite article, which is specific. So the kind of faith Jesus will be looking for is like that of the widow’s who refused to loose heart and by her continual coming to the Judge received her request. We must continue asking, interceding, praying earnestly and always being on the lookout for what God might be telling us regarding our request. Are you standing in the gap (Interceding) for someone. God has always sought intercessors, someone to stand in the gap before Him, but He hasn’t found even one and “Wondered why there were no intercessors” Isaiah 59.16. God is looking and when Jesus returns He will still be looking for intercessors, someone with that kind of faith. I hope when He returns He will find you and me standing in the gap, doing something PRAYING. I hope this gives you some food for thought. Thank you for reading it. God bless us all Phaline.

19. HARBOURING SPIRITS. Luke Chapt. 8 & 9.

Harbouring means we are giving something (a person, place or thing) a home, at least for a while if not permanently. Similar to a ship resting in a harbour, it’s a time and place to take on and deposit people and or goods. Spiritually speaking, we often give what I’ll call Minor Spirits this luxury. Allowing them to make harbour in us. Sometimes for a season, sometimes for longer and sometimes for a lifetime. I have identified six occasions in two of Luke’s Gospels (and there are many more in the other Gospels) where Jesus spoke on the spirits we harbour. I thought today I would look at these six and see what we can learn about ourselves and the potential drag on our future. I am not going to discus major spirits like Witchcraft, Murder, Drugs etc. But the smaller ones, because I believe the big problems people have with harbouring spirits have grown from something small that was not taken in hand much earlier in life and “nipped in the bud,” perhaps in childhood, when it was considered cute and funny but now has grown in to something quite serious and has the potential to get even worse. 1. Luke 9.12 ”Send the crowed away.” We can call this a Callus Spirit. One that doesn’t care, Rather than believing that Jesus could do something about feeding the five thousand, the disciples said just send them away to find food and lodging. One of the problems in ministry to day is... We can care more about crowds than individuals, we want contributors but don”t want to spend time on meeting and talking with people and trying to meet their individual needs. Only as we stay in touch with people’s needs can God use us to meet those needs. The old adage still rings true,”People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.’ 2. Luke 9.33 Peter said “ master it is good for us to be here, let us put up three shelters – One for You, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” Scripture says “he did not know what he was saying.” (A babbling spirit.) Peter had a penchant for saying whatever came into his mind., but this time it drew a strong rebuke from heaven. “This is my beloved Son hear Him.” in other words, zip up and listen. There is an important lesson here, our need to appear wise and have all the answers can get us into trouble with God and people. Generally speaking, we are not learning when we are talking so we need to be quiet, observe what’s going on and listen to what God may want to say to us. When we don’t know, we shouldn’t speak. People respect you more when you have the wisdom and humility to say “I’m Not sure about that matter, but if you give me a little time, I’ll pray about it and give it a bit more consideration and get back to you.” Experts tell us we are bombarded with 35,000 messages each day emales text messages, billboards, t.v. radio, twitter, face book, blogs etc. (Information overload,) people don’t need more information they need answers that work. God has those answers, so we need to talk to Him first, only then will we have something to say to others that is worth listening to. Prov 15.13 says Everyone enjoys a fitting reply, it is wonderful to say the right thing at the right time.” 3. Luke 8.22 25 v24 says “as they sailed a squall came down on the lake so that their boat was being swamped and they were in great danger. the Disciples woke Him saying Master, Master we are perishing.”(A spirit of fear or timidity) Take note what is at work in this story “Fear” Fear is natural, especially when we are encountering something we’ve never had to deal with before, and therefore there’s no past experience we can call on. This is why we should always pray for an increase of Faith, because it’s not until our faith surpasses our fear that we can deal with the problem of fear. No matter how many times God blesses us and answers our prayers, we still give into fear the next time we face a crises. Here’s a question, who told the disciples to get into the boat in the first place?. Jesus understood. Faith doesn’t exempt us from life’s storms, but it does equip us to go through them and when we are in the will of God, no storm no matter how severe will drag us under. Jesus knew the storm was coming even before He told them to get into the boat, so why did He expose them to it? I believe it was as in several other Scriptures, Jesus was equipping them for the future, and He does the same for us. For the Disciples it was for the time when He would no longer be with them in His humanity and they would have to face persecution, imprisonment and even death. So whatever it is, we are being prepared for today don’t be afraid, the Lord is with us and we are going to make it to the other side. One thing to remember is. Fear is natural, Faith is not, it has to be cultivated, developed and grow, this is achieved through trust and dependence on God. Try it with little things first and each time you graduate to a bigger thing your Faith will grow a little more. The more we learn to do that the stronger our faith will get. That’s what worked with the disciples, it took them three years and they were with Jesus all that time, so it will take time for us too but, it will be worth it. I will let you into a secret, I am almost blind, and have been so all my life, but, God has been beside me all the way, and shown me what Faith can do. At times things became extremely difficult, and there were several times I almost threw in the towel, especially six years ago when I was diagnosed with Glaucoma, I now only have very limited narrow tunnel vision. But, God is using me to write this series of “When God Speaks” to bring people to Him. One would think God would choose a fully sighted, clever Scripture Scholar, but No He chose me. Like Abraham with his dislocated hip to lead the Israelites, or Paul to write all those Epistles, I like to think He has chosen me an 86year old almost blind woman to write this series, not that I’m anything like those auspicious characters, but I believe God chooses the handicapped or inadequate to do His work so that people will know that it’s the hand of God at work and not their own. Therein lies Faith. When there is no other option than to do one’s best, dive in, trust and obey God things happen. 4. Luke 8.45-48. “And you say who touched me.” This is what I call an (undiscerning Spirit) What is at work here? Notice Peter’s words, “ Master the multitudes throng around you and You say who touched me.” I believe Jesus can tell the difference between the indiscriminate touch of the crowd and a touch of faith. Faith draws on His power and brings results. note v46 “I know that power has gone out of me” and v48 “YOUR FAITH has healed you”Jesus is not taking any credit for the healing. When our Faith touches Jesus the power goes out of Him and He can feel it. Also when we touch Jesus the source of His power the healing occurs (When we turn on a tap, we expect water to come out of it, if it doesn’t, we look for the blockage, I believe it’s the same with Christ, when we touch Jesus we should expect the healing, if it doesn’t happen we should look first at ourselves for what is stopping it. This woman must have walked some distance in considerable discomfort and pain, with just one thought on her mind and with absolute faith just touched the hem of His garment. The last thing a dressmaker does when making a garment is to sew up the hem, but before doing so she goes over all her work to make sure it’s okay Perhaps we should do the same, look for the blockages, what is there in me that is stopping the power of Jesus coming through. Fix it, then you can sew up the hem. And it is finished. This woman was the only person in that crowed who discerned the healing power of Jesus and had the Faith to exhibit it, So we need to develop a discerning spirit. So once again take a step back and pray quietly, and see what God is saying, not what the crowd is doing. 5. Luke 9.46-48. A dispute arose among them as to which of them would be the greatest.” (a self seeking spirit.) As long as our motive is to make ourselves look good we will never enjoy God’s approval, His “Well done” is the only thing that counts. The ability to serve behind the scenes and do it with joy, comes from the knowledge that ultimately our service will be recognised by the audience of One, the only ONE that matters. I believe Christ featured a child that day for three reasons, 1. Because a child is teachable. When we’re finished learning we’re finished. When we can’t or wont be told, God will have nothing more to tell us. Prov. 18.15. Tells us – The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, the ears of the wise seek it out. 2. A child is trusting, when you promise a child something he believes you, He acts on it and believes it to be so. Psalm 118.8 says—It is better to trust in God than to put confidence in man. 3 A child is tender hearted, 1Peter 3.8.-- Finally be tender hearted. In Scripture the Holy Spirit is represented by a gentle dove, so we need to keep our hearts tender and receptive to His dealings. 6. Luke 9.54-56. “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of.” (A judgemental spirit).-- A pole taken by the “Barna Research Group” Reveals that most non-beli8evers view most Christians as too judgemental so it appears that we can be sincere but too severe. When we mix only with people who share our views and values we can have a tendency to communicate with others in ways that attack rather than attract. I know that never has it been more important to know the truth of God’s Word and stand on it. But if we have the right Doctrine and the wrong spirit, we will drive more people away from Christ than to Him. If Satan has his way ,he’ll drive holiness away from our hearts and into our fists. Imagine Christ’s disciples wanting to incinerate those people who didn’t agree with them. They weren’t even aware of the spirits that were in their own hearts. Jesus said in Matt 19.18-19. “Love your neighbour as yourself.” That includes our non-Christian neighbours. We don’t have to sell or even defend Jesus, we only have to introduce Him. Psalm 34.8 say “Taste and see that the Lord is Good.” So make Jesus the tastiest gift we can give away this Christmas. Thank you all for reading my thoughts on Harbouring unwanted Spirits. And resolve to accommodate only the Holy Spirit of God. Phaline. -----------------------------