Circumstances in life have been so difficult lately. As I look around, it seems that evil is dominating the battlefield. Justice doesn't seem to fall to the "just" in any situation. The "good guys" seem to be suffering at the hands of the "bad guys" and those who are shaking their fists in God's face seem to be getting away with walking a dark pathway without consequence.
The Spirit calls me this morning to set the record straight. He takes me back to His Word and the book of Malachi.
Life with the Holy One in charge means He has permission to enter the deepest caverns of my mind and move through the thoughts that are hiding there, even and especially those thoughts that are at cross purpose with Truth.
The Holy One is able to expose them to His light. The mind has a whole cabinet of lies deposited there by the enemy of our soul. The Indwelling Holy pirit will seek and destroy those lies but we must trust Him and allow our ungodly thoughts to be challenged and exposed without fear.
The pressure to "appear" righteous from the outside can be so great that we deceive ourselves from within. On a human level we filter what we allow our friends to know about us from the fear that "if they really knew the real me, they wouldn't want to be my friend".
We learn early that if we want to be accepted, we must appear to be what we think others will accept. The Holy Spirit cannot be so fooled. He knows every hair on our head and every thought in our mind. There is no point in attempting to deny our vagrant thoughts to Him and so deceive ourselves.
This morning He points me to Malachi 3:13-18. While I am so full of a form of righteous indignation for what I see, as He speaks to those thoughts, I understand that they represent impatient betrayal of my Beloved.
"You have said harsh things against Me", says the Lord. Yet you ask, "what have we said against You? You have said it is futile to serve God." (Is this what I was really thinking?) "What did we gain by carrying out His requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper and even those who challenge God escape".
Wow what a picture of my deepest thoughts painted on the pages of the Holy Scriptures. The thoughts are real even though very subtle and not fully formed. Yet as I focus on God's assessment of my unspoken thoughts, He tells me that these "things" represent the "harsh things" that are being said against Him and that unchecked they can travel the pathway of deeper doubt.
These thoughts do not belong in my mind for I have the Indwelling Spirit who provides for me the very Mind of Christ Jesus. The lies, the deception, the unbelief, shuffle out as the bright light of Holiness exposes the dark corners of my mind.
The standard for right thinking is established. There must be no compromise with doubt or cynicism or complaining about God's handling of life circumstances even if it appears that those who challenge God's rule escape unscathed.
Malachi 3:16 gave the game plan for believers in how to deal with the unfair issues of life. "then those who feared the Lord talked with each other." "Those who feared the Lord and honored His name". If ever there were days and times for the Body of Christ to talk about the Resurrected Savior and His coming Kingdom, it is now.
The days are surely full of evil and the darkness is coming, yet we walk in the Light. For yet a little while longer we have time to bring the encouragement of our eternal destination provided by the Love of God through Jesus to the lost and dying world. For yet a while longer, we have the freedom to gather and encourage each other with the truth about our loving and merciful Creator God. For yet a little while longer we have the promises to look forward to thus proving our faith before they become fact where faith is no longer required.
To operate in faith is a privileged and limited opportunity.
God says of those who fear Him and talk with each other for mutual encouragement in the faith, "They will be mine, says the Lord Almighty, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, I will spare them just as a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked between those who serve God and those who do not."
As we await the ultimate fulfillment of this promise when Christ comes to claim His own, may we find the encouragement to hold firm to the promises of our merciful God in the day to day events that take place all around us. Is it time to speak to others who fear the Lord and Honor His Name reminding ourselves and them that all God's promises for His people are yes and Amen?
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
The Spirit calls me this morning to set the record straight. He takes me back to His Word and the book of Malachi.
Life with the Holy One in charge means He has permission to enter the deepest caverns of my mind and move through the thoughts that are hiding there, even and especially those thoughts that are at cross purpose with Truth.
The Holy One is able to expose them to His light. The mind has a whole cabinet of lies deposited there by the enemy of our soul. The Indwelling Holy pirit will seek and destroy those lies but we must trust Him and allow our ungodly thoughts to be challenged and exposed without fear.
The pressure to "appear" righteous from the outside can be so great that we deceive ourselves from within. On a human level we filter what we allow our friends to know about us from the fear that "if they really knew the real me, they wouldn't want to be my friend".
We learn early that if we want to be accepted, we must appear to be what we think others will accept. The Holy Spirit cannot be so fooled. He knows every hair on our head and every thought in our mind. There is no point in attempting to deny our vagrant thoughts to Him and so deceive ourselves.
This morning He points me to Malachi 3:13-18. While I am so full of a form of righteous indignation for what I see, as He speaks to those thoughts, I understand that they represent impatient betrayal of my Beloved.
"You have said harsh things against Me", says the Lord. Yet you ask, "what have we said against You? You have said it is futile to serve God." (Is this what I was really thinking?) "What did we gain by carrying out His requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper and even those who challenge God escape".
Wow what a picture of my deepest thoughts painted on the pages of the Holy Scriptures. The thoughts are real even though very subtle and not fully formed. Yet as I focus on God's assessment of my unspoken thoughts, He tells me that these "things" represent the "harsh things" that are being said against Him and that unchecked they can travel the pathway of deeper doubt.
These thoughts do not belong in my mind for I have the Indwelling Spirit who provides for me the very Mind of Christ Jesus. The lies, the deception, the unbelief, shuffle out as the bright light of Holiness exposes the dark corners of my mind.
The standard for right thinking is established. There must be no compromise with doubt or cynicism or complaining about God's handling of life circumstances even if it appears that those who challenge God's rule escape unscathed.
Malachi 3:16 gave the game plan for believers in how to deal with the unfair issues of life. "then those who feared the Lord talked with each other." "Those who feared the Lord and honored His name". If ever there were days and times for the Body of Christ to talk about the Resurrected Savior and His coming Kingdom, it is now.
The days are surely full of evil and the darkness is coming, yet we walk in the Light. For yet a little while longer we have time to bring the encouragement of our eternal destination provided by the Love of God through Jesus to the lost and dying world. For yet a while longer, we have the freedom to gather and encourage each other with the truth about our loving and merciful Creator God. For yet a little while longer we have the promises to look forward to thus proving our faith before they become fact where faith is no longer required.
To operate in faith is a privileged and limited opportunity.
God says of those who fear Him and talk with each other for mutual encouragement in the faith, "They will be mine, says the Lord Almighty, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, I will spare them just as a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked between those who serve God and those who do not."
As we await the ultimate fulfillment of this promise when Christ comes to claim His own, may we find the encouragement to hold firm to the promises of our merciful God in the day to day events that take place all around us. Is it time to speak to others who fear the Lord and Honor His Name reminding ourselves and them that all God's promises for His people are yes and Amen?
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
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