Why did the apostle Paul feel it necessary that we should encourage one another? How was faith and listening connected? What kills our faith? Why did our God get disgusted with his people so long ago?
The apostle Paul knew that a time of deception would come, that a great delusion would come to mankind. This delusion would create a rebellion against God and his laws. The apostle Paul was worried that we would fall victim to the seduction of sin, and that our hearts would become hardened toward God.
Hebrews 3:12-18… Watch out, brothers, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that departs from the living God. 13 But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception. 14 For we have become companions of the Messiah if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start. 15 As it is said: Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. 16 For who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it really all who came out of Egypt under Moses? 17 And, who was He, provoked with for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And who did He swear to that they would not enter His rest, if not those who disobeyed?
What is faith and how do we unwittingly kill it?
By Faith
Hebrews 11:1… Faith is the insured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld.
So, the loss of hope leads to our faith becoming weakened. But the apostle Paul points out that if we allow an evil spirit into our thoughts that it will kill our faith. Because evil thoughts lead to rebellious actions against God and his authority. And that is exactly what happened to the Israelite nation during its 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. An evil thought was put into their heads by the Shedim, and some in the Israelite nation fell victim and acted on their selfishness to fulfill their heart’s desire.
When God Speaks You Listen
So, how is faith and listening to God connected?
Hebrews 1:1-3… Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways. 2 In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son. God has appointed Him heir of all things and made the universe through Him. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of His nature, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Faith and listening to God are connected through the action of obedience. We have to act in faith to what God says. God has appointed Christ his son that we should listen and obey him in all that we do, after all it means our life.
If we been involved in wrongdoing and engaging in the sin of the world we need to ask for forgiveness of our sins and to be washed clean in the name of Jesus Christ. We need to take up God’s word and read it, so that the prophetic word can start to change you from who you were the something better.
2 Peter 1:19-21… So, we have the prophetic word strongly confirmed. You will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dismal place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 First of all, you should know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation, 21 because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
The teachings of Christ affect’s the heart and when we allow the love of Christ into our hearts, we will be obedient to the leadings of the Holy Spirit.
Our hearts are going to either be led by Holy Spirit or the spirit of the world. Either bound in acts of loving of kindness. Or we are going to bounding in selfish acts of loose conduct. If we look around, we can see the bounding of lawlessness in all its teachings of selfishness.
The Bounding of Lawlessness
This strong delusion has been sent forth as a plague upon mankind. It is part of the rebellion of the wicked to turn everyone away from God.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12… The coming of the lawless one is based on Satan’s working, with all kinds of false miracles, signs, and wonders, 10 and with every unrighteous deception among those who are perishing. They perish because they did not accept the love of the truth in order to be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a strong delusion so that they will believe what is false, 12 so that all will be condemned—those who did not believe the truth but enjoyed unrighteousness.
God’s ways are true, and his laws help us live within the guidelines that he has set out for mankind.
These wicked entities put thoughts that are false into are ears, and these are leading mankind away from the love of Christ. They are the antichrist in origin! Let us name a few of these unrighteous thoughts that have overtaken us in our time.
Abortion is okay so they say, “my body my right” is what they cry out. They teach evolution instead of creation. They pursue peace by means of the treaties of men instead of looking to the Prince of Peace to solve the problem. Instead of letting God’s word direct their lives they choose to do what they want, what they feel is right for them. They have taken the word of God away from the children and away from the future. They teach a woke ideology; they preach “accept us” as they shove their homosexuality down our throats. They have taken over our schools, they have pushed their way into our libraries. They dance in our streets and protest at their pride marches. To hell with your gay pride.
A Cruel Day
I have a message from God for you.
Isaiah 13:9-13… Look, the day of the Lord is coming— cruel, with rage and burning anger— to make the earth a desolation and to destroy the sinners on it. 10 Indeed, the stars of the sky and its constellations will not give their light. The sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shine. 11 I will bring disaster on the world, and their own iniquity, on the wicked. I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant and humiliate the insolence of tyrants. 12 I will make man scarcer than gold, and mankind more rare than the gold of Ophir. 13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will shake from its foundations at the wrath of the Lord of Hosts, on the day of His burning anger.
God knows who has been behind these evil thoughts. And they will not go without punishment. For God has said he will make the heavens tremble, he will take their light that they possess away from them because they will be thrown into darkness.
Come Lord Jesus and rocked this world, rid us of this wickedness we beg, we pray.
Writingwithlogos.com – Last Revised 8/17/24