Wantonly Treacherous
Psalms 25:1-3 ESV
As followers of Jesus Christ, who is our enemy? Satan! And why is he our enemy? Because he is an enemy of God, because he wanted to be God, and because he had Jesus put to death on a cross, and he is out to destroy all of our Lord’s spiritual offspring, and our faith, and the gospel of Christ.
But he uses other humans to do his dirty work, so we also have human enemies. But the real battle is spiritual, not of this world. So, we have to fight this spiritual battle with spiritual weapons of warfare like truth, faith, righteousness, salvation, the sword of the Spirit (the word of God), and the prayers of the saints of God (See Eph 6:10-20).
So, some or most of our enemies will be wantonly (shamelessly and maliciously) treacherous (traitorous, deceitful, faithless), for they willfully deceive, manipulate, trap, abuse, and misuse others for their evil purposes. For their goal is to destroy us and to pull us away from Jesus.
Just like Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, and he does not appear obviously evil wearing a red suit, holding a pitchfork, and with horns on his head, Satan’s servants masquerade themselves as servants of righteousness. So, the enemy is not always obvious to most people.
So, how do we discern who our enemies are? And we need to discern, for if we are not discerning, we may end up following them straight to hell or into an evil trap. Or we may waste valuable time getting caught up with them when we could have been sharing Jesus with the world.
First, we can’t be discerning people if we have our heads buried in the sand and if we refuse to listen to voices of reason. We can’t be discerning people if we are willfully and deliberately continuing to make sin our practice. And we can’t be discerning people if we are not listening to the Lord and if we are not walking in his ways and in his truth.
Since the word of God teaches us that we must test every spirit to see if it is of God, then that is what we must do, so we aren’t led astray. So, we get before God in prayer, and we seek the Lord’s counsel, and we pray for discernment of the Spirit of God to know who is friend, and who is foe.
Then we get into the word of God and we ask the Lord to show us what is the truth and to reveal to us the lies. But not all enemies and not all lies are discernable just through prayer and Bible study. For we have many world leaders who have their countrymen under their spell, believing their lies, but not necessarily lies directly against Scripture.
How Many Foes
Psalms 25:19-21 ESV
So, if a politician or a government leader or a world leader or the news media or the wealthy and powerful and famous of the world tells you something, or you see a video of something having taken place, how do you know they are telling you the truth or that what you think you saw is real?
How can you be sure they are not lying to you, tricking and manipulating you, faking and staging events, following a script, acting it out for an audience, and following a very well thought out sinister plan for world domination?
What if you see a video on Twitter or Facebook or on the news which looks like someone is being murdered or beaten? Do you automatically assume it is true? Or do you consider the idea that anything can be faked, for Hollywood does it all the time? So maybe it isn't real?
What if we see videos of airliners flying into buildings and then the buildings collapse and then the news tells who did it and so they immediately go to war with another country, do you assume that is the truth they are telling you? Or could it be a big lie? Or partial lie?
What if the news tells you a government leader tested positive for a virus? Would you assume it was true? Or if they throw out all kinds of numbers (statistics) to make it seem like something is huge, do you assume it is huge and that they are telling you the truth? And that you are in danger?
Do you see what I am getting at? Deception is huge! We are being lied to all the time and many gullible and naive people are believing the lies without question. Yes, Jesus is the only truth, but we still have to discern if what we are hearing or seeing is true or false.
I do believe we need to pray for blinded eyes to be opened to the truth for many are being deceived by clever enchanters and are following man in place of God. So, we need to have eyes to see and ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
But what if what is happening is God's judgment on the adulterous and idolatrous church in this nation and we need this to happen for the church to be revived? For, the worldly church needs to come to repentance and obedience to her Lord before Jesus returns.
And we still need to discern truth from lies so that we don’t follow the lies and ignore the truth, and so we don’t assume who our true enemies are when they could be our own countrymen and our own nation’s leaders who are betraying their own people in order to bring us into a one world order.
Be Gracious to Me
Psalms 25:16-18 ESV
Many of our nations in our world right now are going through a crisis. But the question we must ask the Lord in prayer, seeking truth, is if the crisis is what is being purported, or if the true crisis is the deception and the evil plot being carried out via the purported crisis.
Why is it important that we know? Because we are being lied to, and I believe the purpose of it all is control and it is just another steppingstone to accomplish their greater goal of bringing us into a one world order and a one world religion. I believe the signs are everywhere that this is taking place.
We need to know so that we can have the right perspective of what is truly going on and so that we can focus our attention on what has eternal value, and so we don’t get caught in any of their traps and end up wasting precious time over what is fake while we ignore the great commission.
Also, if we realize what is really going on, and what it is all leading up to, then we must also realize the nearness of our Lord’s return. And we must see that a big part of this is about the persecution of Christians, which is already taking place.
Many Christians throughout the earth are being severely persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ, and those Christians in America who are serious about their walks of faith and who are sharing the truth of the gospel in opposition to the lies of the enemy are also facing persecution.
And that is a lonely existence for many of us have been ostracized from local church fellowships for our close walks with the Lord and our seriousness about the teachings of his word. But it is only going to get worse, so I see two ways the Lord might bring us out of our distresses.
The first is that he is with us, comforting, leading, guiding, equipping, and strengthening us in our trials and tribulations, and he is filling us with his peace even in the midst of our troubles. And the second is that he will take us home to be with him and our sorrows will be no more.
The important thing for us is to be in fellowship with our Lord, depending on his word, leaning on his everlasting arms, and drawing on his strength to sustain us in these troubled times. We need discernment so we know what to do with the lies being fed us, and we need to be proclaiming the truth.
Mighty in Power
An Original Work / June 17, 2019
Jesus, our Savior, reigneth forever;
Mighty in power, His name we honor.
He’s our refuge from all evil.
God our righteous, He’s our fill.
He satisfies us with all His blessings.
We magnify Him. Our praise to Him sing.
Glory and honor, praise to the Father,
Perfect in wisdom, He is our vision.
He delivered us from all sin
So, in Christ, we’d be forgiven.
He purifies us. His love will guide us.
He is beside us, holy and righteous.
Our Holy Spirit, comfort in sorrow,
Strength in our weakness, hope for tomorrow.
He gives courage to be bold in
Witnessing for Jesus Christ.
He teaches all things about our Savior.
New life in Jesus, we found His favor.
Psalms 25:1-3 ESV
“To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
O my God, in you I trust;
let me not be put to shame;
let not my enemies exult over me.
Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame;
they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.”
O my God, in you I trust;
let me not be put to shame;
let not my enemies exult over me.
Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame;
they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.”
As followers of Jesus Christ, who is our enemy? Satan! And why is he our enemy? Because he is an enemy of God, because he wanted to be God, and because he had Jesus put to death on a cross, and he is out to destroy all of our Lord’s spiritual offspring, and our faith, and the gospel of Christ.
But he uses other humans to do his dirty work, so we also have human enemies. But the real battle is spiritual, not of this world. So, we have to fight this spiritual battle with spiritual weapons of warfare like truth, faith, righteousness, salvation, the sword of the Spirit (the word of God), and the prayers of the saints of God (See Eph 6:10-20).
So, some or most of our enemies will be wantonly (shamelessly and maliciously) treacherous (traitorous, deceitful, faithless), for they willfully deceive, manipulate, trap, abuse, and misuse others for their evil purposes. For their goal is to destroy us and to pull us away from Jesus.
Just like Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, and he does not appear obviously evil wearing a red suit, holding a pitchfork, and with horns on his head, Satan’s servants masquerade themselves as servants of righteousness. So, the enemy is not always obvious to most people.
So, how do we discern who our enemies are? And we need to discern, for if we are not discerning, we may end up following them straight to hell or into an evil trap. Or we may waste valuable time getting caught up with them when we could have been sharing Jesus with the world.
First, we can’t be discerning people if we have our heads buried in the sand and if we refuse to listen to voices of reason. We can’t be discerning people if we are willfully and deliberately continuing to make sin our practice. And we can’t be discerning people if we are not listening to the Lord and if we are not walking in his ways and in his truth.
Since the word of God teaches us that we must test every spirit to see if it is of God, then that is what we must do, so we aren’t led astray. So, we get before God in prayer, and we seek the Lord’s counsel, and we pray for discernment of the Spirit of God to know who is friend, and who is foe.
Then we get into the word of God and we ask the Lord to show us what is the truth and to reveal to us the lies. But not all enemies and not all lies are discernable just through prayer and Bible study. For we have many world leaders who have their countrymen under their spell, believing their lies, but not necessarily lies directly against Scripture.
How Many Foes
Psalms 25:19-21 ESV
“Consider how many are my foes,
and with what violent hatred they hate me.
Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!
Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
May integrity and uprightness preserve me,
for I wait for you.”
and with what violent hatred they hate me.
Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!
Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
May integrity and uprightness preserve me,
for I wait for you.”
So, if a politician or a government leader or a world leader or the news media or the wealthy and powerful and famous of the world tells you something, or you see a video of something having taken place, how do you know they are telling you the truth or that what you think you saw is real?
How can you be sure they are not lying to you, tricking and manipulating you, faking and staging events, following a script, acting it out for an audience, and following a very well thought out sinister plan for world domination?
What if you see a video on Twitter or Facebook or on the news which looks like someone is being murdered or beaten? Do you automatically assume it is true? Or do you consider the idea that anything can be faked, for Hollywood does it all the time? So maybe it isn't real?
What if we see videos of airliners flying into buildings and then the buildings collapse and then the news tells who did it and so they immediately go to war with another country, do you assume that is the truth they are telling you? Or could it be a big lie? Or partial lie?
What if the news tells you a government leader tested positive for a virus? Would you assume it was true? Or if they throw out all kinds of numbers (statistics) to make it seem like something is huge, do you assume it is huge and that they are telling you the truth? And that you are in danger?
Do you see what I am getting at? Deception is huge! We are being lied to all the time and many gullible and naive people are believing the lies without question. Yes, Jesus is the only truth, but we still have to discern if what we are hearing or seeing is true or false.
I do believe we need to pray for blinded eyes to be opened to the truth for many are being deceived by clever enchanters and are following man in place of God. So, we need to have eyes to see and ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
But what if what is happening is God's judgment on the adulterous and idolatrous church in this nation and we need this to happen for the church to be revived? For, the worldly church needs to come to repentance and obedience to her Lord before Jesus returns.
And we still need to discern truth from lies so that we don’t follow the lies and ignore the truth, and so we don’t assume who our true enemies are when they could be our own countrymen and our own nation’s leaders who are betraying their own people in order to bring us into a one world order.
Be Gracious to Me
Psalms 25:16-18 ESV
“Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
The troubles of my heart are enlarged;
bring me out of my distresses.
Consider my affliction and my trouble,
and forgive all my sins.”
for I am lonely and afflicted.
The troubles of my heart are enlarged;
bring me out of my distresses.
Consider my affliction and my trouble,
and forgive all my sins.”
Many of our nations in our world right now are going through a crisis. But the question we must ask the Lord in prayer, seeking truth, is if the crisis is what is being purported, or if the true crisis is the deception and the evil plot being carried out via the purported crisis.
Why is it important that we know? Because we are being lied to, and I believe the purpose of it all is control and it is just another steppingstone to accomplish their greater goal of bringing us into a one world order and a one world religion. I believe the signs are everywhere that this is taking place.
We need to know so that we can have the right perspective of what is truly going on and so that we can focus our attention on what has eternal value, and so we don’t get caught in any of their traps and end up wasting precious time over what is fake while we ignore the great commission.
Also, if we realize what is really going on, and what it is all leading up to, then we must also realize the nearness of our Lord’s return. And we must see that a big part of this is about the persecution of Christians, which is already taking place.
Many Christians throughout the earth are being severely persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ, and those Christians in America who are serious about their walks of faith and who are sharing the truth of the gospel in opposition to the lies of the enemy are also facing persecution.
And that is a lonely existence for many of us have been ostracized from local church fellowships for our close walks with the Lord and our seriousness about the teachings of his word. But it is only going to get worse, so I see two ways the Lord might bring us out of our distresses.
The first is that he is with us, comforting, leading, guiding, equipping, and strengthening us in our trials and tribulations, and he is filling us with his peace even in the midst of our troubles. And the second is that he will take us home to be with him and our sorrows will be no more.
The important thing for us is to be in fellowship with our Lord, depending on his word, leaning on his everlasting arms, and drawing on his strength to sustain us in these troubled times. We need discernment so we know what to do with the lies being fed us, and we need to be proclaiming the truth.
Mighty in Power
An Original Work / June 17, 2019
Jesus, our Savior, reigneth forever;
Mighty in power, His name we honor.
He’s our refuge from all evil.
God our righteous, He’s our fill.
He satisfies us with all His blessings.
We magnify Him. Our praise to Him sing.
Glory and honor, praise to the Father,
Perfect in wisdom, He is our vision.
He delivered us from all sin
So, in Christ, we’d be forgiven.
He purifies us. His love will guide us.
He is beside us, holy and righteous.
Our Holy Spirit, comfort in sorrow,
Strength in our weakness, hope for tomorrow.
He gives courage to be bold in
Witnessing for Jesus Christ.
He teaches all things about our Savior.
New life in Jesus, we found His favor.
