Temptation- ever since the garden of Eden and the slyness of the serpent in beguiling Eve, it has been the focal point of satanic attack. It has not changed today. "It it ain' broke, don't fix it", is satan's motto, and temptation has sent millions to hell...nay...billions, "So why change what is working quite nicely for me?", he ponders?

Let us heed the words of God and hear what He has to say as to sin and the temptation to draw back.

7 Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye
will hear his voice,
8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation,
in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me,
and saw my works forty years.
10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation,
and said, They do alway err in their heart; and
they have not known my ways.
11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter
into my rest.
12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of
you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from
the living God.
13 But exhort one another daily, while it is
called To day; lest any of you be hardened
through the deceitfulness of sin.
14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we
hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast
unto the end


-Hebrews 3:7-14


It is important we remind ourselves that our loving God, a God that changes not, who miraculously delivered His people from the bondage of pharoah, and then split open the Red Sea to allow their escape and then swallow up their pursuing enemy, still was moved to judgement when a competing God was created by His very people- the golden calf.

Somehow we have misunderstood the message of Christ and twisted the gospel of love into one where because of His great love, He is now found "winking at our sin". As the above scriptures clearly and unmistakeably indictate, nothing could be further from the truth.

On the contrary, we are exhorted by the scriptures and the author of Hebrews to remember this day when 23,000 were made to drink of the molten gold of the very idol they created, and died an agonizing death. Our God is still a jealous God and still hates sin. Make no mistake here.

This is one of the biggest lies satan has perpetrated on the modern church, that somehow Christ's sacrifice makes sin "not a big deal" because we can simply repent and go on about our business, right?

Is it not true, in fact, that many have slipped so far that they believe His sacrifice covers all sins, confessed and unconfessed, repented of and unrepented of, because after all, has He not cast them as far as east is from the west?

But we must be wary. God does not judge on outer appearance but on attitudes and purity of the heart itself. He knows what we truly love, if our heart is His or it simply appears so.

If a man is worldly, or still secretly lusts, or is proud and haughty, with no thought given to if this is displeasing to His Father, and he casually, again and again, willfully sins, then I say clearly....beware. Again I say with all seriousness, beware!

The God you think exists does not. That God is a made up God, perpetrated on us by our enemy. God still hates sin, and our protection is found in not only using the blood of the lamb as a sacrifice for our sins, but also as a cleanser to rid us of our sin nature itself. Do we not hear the words crying out to us, even today?

12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil
heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

"Depart from God? What? How is that possible? I thought once I was saved, all was well with my soul, that nothing can seperate me from the love of Christ?"

Again, satan has devised "his" gospel that says you cannot undo what God has done. Ahhhh, but continuance is part of the equation, and to think a one time bowing of the knee makes you clad in a suit of armor and yet, you do not have to put it on, is vanity at its best, and deception indeed. Lest we forget, it is:

"he that endureth to the end, thsame shall be saved."

So what are we to do, dear brother, precious sister? Our soul can indeed be found at risk, and we can indeed slip back into darkness. Before we can find the relief we so need, we must first come to a place of fear for ourselves, and our state, if sin has crept in, a little at a time, lest we too fall back thru the deceitdfulness of those sins into unbelief of the delivering power of our God, and come short of the glory of God like the children in the wilderness, and die like they did, having tempted God with our casualness to sin.

Is there a safe place to run? Is there a security that God offers us? Oh yes, there is indeed. God offers us freedom for our fleshly nature and victory over the world. God's word is clear:

"This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."

Are you tempted? So was Christ, yet without sin. "But He was God", you protest! "I am but a mere man, weak and frail."

Your adversary is lying to you again. Listen, my brother in the Lord. Hear, dear sister. The very same power that was Christ's is now yours. We are told to put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. The question is, will we believe it? Will we draw near to God in full assurance of faith, or will we, in our unbelief, draw back away from Him and a myriad of little sins deceive us anew and harden our hearts until unbelief again is our closest companion.

It is our choice...life or death. Do not fool yourself. Your vigilence counts for nought without the protective nature that our Christ offers us. Without faith, all the perseverence and diligence in the world is no match for the wiles of the devil. There is but one thing he respects...

"It is written....."

The shield of faith is ours, saints, but it does us no good gathering dust in the closet. It must be used....daily, hourly, until satan understands that we truly believe the good news and as with Jesus, he hath nothing in us.

There is a life of overcoming awaiting all who call upon the Lord and satan can be defeated at every single turn. Do NOT lethim lie to you any longer that you cannot cease from sin. You can! You must! You can do all thrings thru the Christ who strengthens you! Believe! Believe the precious promises of God. Cling to Him and confess if needs be "I believe, Lord! Help thou my unbelief!

You know Bruce, I do beleive it, that the times of God winking at our sin has already waned, and I feel an Encouraging word though about this matter of our needing to get our hearts and minds and ways pure....Because condemnation will not do it for people....and what I mean is, you know how we feel when we are not feeling very strong in God and the preacher is yelling at us that we better shape up? And honestly it never has really inspired or helped me much...

But what I am feeling today is...God is already and is going to even more "Help" us to move into a pure heart and pure relationship and pure works also...

And we already talked about how the things coming upon this earth are and are going to accomplish just that. When God's people will be faced with having to "choose" whether to compromise under the economic and "New World Order" pressures and tests, this is when we will be pushed off the lukewarm fence and pretty much either into compromise of into a clinging to God....

The good news is, during such hard times, God will and is even now imparting more than an adequate amount of Grace upon us to not only stand but to go forth in the Power and Anointing of His Spirit....just like the Disciples did and were empowered to under great threat and persecution! It's almost like when we have a reason to come up and out in great spiritual strenth and power, that's when we do. Persecution has always been like a refining fire that has brought the Saints to Life rather than to death, amen?

But this is a true word, that it is the time when obedience is better than sacrifice! Satan almost destroyed me and my family and almost killed my husband awhile back...by a great deluding presence that came into our lives...but God "told me,"....even though I was such a victim....and even though he divinely visited us and brought miraculous healing and deliverance...Don't let it happen again, because the next time I will not deliver you...

And that was a very tough word, but it let me know in the deepest of my soul that there is no more time for getting lost in the forrest or letting anything happen that will distract us away...

And one of the greatest lessons I have learned brother is this....too often the people of God, and especially in this day where many deceptive spirits are loose in the world, begin to think they are following God's will when actually their own human will has gotten puffed up with pride....so that "even if" they have known God in the deep and have had calling and anointing, and know the Spirit of God well.....this entrance of pride brings a man to the estate which God calls, "Workers of the flesh!"

And one might argue with me about this, but God clearly pointed it out to me during another past episode where I was almost drawn into a group that all people around thought was moving for God, but they were really moving out of their own pride and human will....they were puffed up...beleiving that "I" or "we" are a special called out group....that doesn't need the Church or anyone telling us anything...because I or we are hearing directly from God....and we know things that other people are not knowing or having revealed to them....

And God termed this situation as "spiritual woe," to me....and I could not "see" it....I could not!.....Not "until" I surrendered to agreeing to God that whatever he would reveal to me about this group...I would hear and beleive and obey! Until then he would NOT reveal the truth to me.

I did surrender and my eyes were immediatly opened! And what I saw was shaking. But it was not visible to the human eye or easily perceived.

And the bottom line is....Pride! When it gets in us and gets a grip on us....ever so subtely....we move into instant darkness! All the while thinking we are the special and called out.

So indeed we will do well to Never think more of ourselves than we ought! I have seen the destruction that pride will bring upon the most sold out Saint...our spiritual knowledge will come to naught very quickly when we get puffed up in pride! And we will walk along blindly thinking everyone else is blind while it's really us!

A good word for this kind of situation...."There is safety in a multitude of Councelors." When we get to where we feel that we know what all the Christians around us cannot see or know....this is a good time to humble ourselves greatly and seek God to search us and see if there be any wicked way in us, Amen. Kim

Originally Posted by preachergirl

You know Bruce, I do beleive it, that the times of God winking at our sin has already waned, and I feel an Encouraging word though about this matter of our needing to get our hearts and minds and ways pure....Because condemnation will not do it for people....and what I mean is, you know how we feel when we are not feeling very strong in God and the preacher is yelling at us that we better shape up? And honestly it never has really inspired or helped me much...

But what I am feeling today is...God is already and is going to even more "Help" us to move into a pure heart and pure relationship and pure works also...

And we already talked about how the things coming upon this earth are and are going to accomplish just that. When God's people will be faced with having to "choose" whether to compromise under the economic and "New World Order" pressures and tests, this is when we will be pushed off the lukewarm fence and pretty much either into compromise of into a clinging to God....

The good news is, during such hard times, God will and is even now imparting more than an adequate amount of Grace upon us to not only stand but to go forth in the Power and Anointing of His Spirit....just like the Disciples did and were empowered to under great threat and persecution! It's almost like when we have a reason to come up and out in great spiritual strenth and power, that's when we do. Persecution has always been like a refining fire that has brought the Saints to Life rather than to death, amen?

But this is a true word, that it is the time when obedience is better than sacrifice! Satan almost destroyed me and my family and almost killed my husband awhile back...by a great deluding presence that came into our lives...but God "told me,"....even though I was such a victim....and even though he divinely visited us and brought miraculous healing and deliverance...Don't let it happen again, because the next time I will not deliver you...

And that was a very tough word, but it let me know in the deepest of my soul that there is no more time for getting lost in the forrest or letting anything happen that will distract us away...

And one of the greatest lessons I have learned brother is this....too often the people of God, and especially in this day where many deceptive spirits are loose in the world, begin to think they are following God's will when actually their own human will has gotten puffed up with pride....so that "even if" they have known God in the deep and have had calling and anointing, and know the Spirit of God well.....this entrance of pride brings a man to the estate which God calls, "Workers of the flesh!"

And one might argue with me about this, but God clearly pointed it out to me during another past episode where I was almost drawn into a group that all people around thought was moving for God, but they were really moving out of their own pride and human will....they were puffed up...beleiving that "I" or "we" are a special called out group....that doesn't need the Church or anyone telling us anything...because I or we are hearing directly from God....and we know things that other people are not knowing or having revealed to them....

And God termed this situation as "spiritual woe," to me....and I could not "see" it....I could not!.....Not "until" I surrendered to agreeing to God that whatever he would reveal to me about this group...I would hear and beleive and obey! Until then he would NOT reveal the truth to me.

I did surrender and my eyes were immediatly opened! And what I saw was shaking. But it was not visible to the human eye or easily perceived.

And the bottom line is....Pride! When it gets in us and gets a grip on us....ever so subtely....we move into instant darkness! All the while thinking we are the special and called out.

So indeed we will do well to Never think more of ourselves than we ought! I have seen the destruction that pride will bring upon the most sold out Saint...our spiritual knowledge will come to naught very quickly when we get puffed up in pride! And we will walk along blindly thinking everyone else is blind while it's really us!

A good word for this kind of situation...."There is safety in a multitude of Councelors." When we get to where we feel that we know what all the Christians around us cannot see or know....this is a good time to humble ourselves greatly and seek God to search us and see if there be any wicked way in us, Amen. Kim

God help me Kim, if my word comes across as condemnation, or the heavy handedness of guilt hidden in a "spiritual word". It was not so intended, but rather so that the children of the kingdom are finallyable to see their Lord as fully capable and willing to deliver them from anything and everything that would stand in their way, if they will but yield all to Him and trust.

Now understand, by trust, I do not mean it as a passive verb here, but rather very much an active one. As we look down the list of the great heroes of faith, theirs was not a "soft" believing God but an active "climb out of the boat" faith.

I fully agree with your post and want to emphasize something you said that I consider very important:

"Not until I surrendered to agreeing to God that whatever he would reveal to me about this group...I would hear and beleive and obey! Until then he would NOT reveal the truth to me."

There is a huge truth hidden in your words. God said:

"You shall seek me and you shall find me, when you seek me with your whole heart."

How often we as His children have sought His will and yet, heaven is brass? The reason? Does He not hear our cries? Of course He does. But until we are totally pliable in His hands as the master potter, willing to do whatever He whispers in our ears, He dare not show us His will, for we will be held accountable for our disobedience should we choose to pass it by.

Now the days are growing shorter. Many have all learned by now the hard way that our ways, our wills, our hopes and dreams do not make us happy, nor fulfill our hungry hearts. His will, that good and perfect and acceptable will of God, his will for us, is not a heavy yoke but the place of our greatest contentment. Trusting Him for our righteousness, for our protection, for our safety, is one of the supreme acts a child of God can do, for it not only shuts the mouths of lions, it brings great glory to the God who has promised to do:

"exceeding abundantly above and beyond all that we ask or think."

I so appreciate your presence here, as well as your wisdom, Kim.

Your word did not in any way strike me as containing any condemnation Bruce, but I now realize my trail of thoughts likely seemed to say that, but not so in the slightest. I was only off thinking of other times when it's been pounded from the pulpit that we have got to get pure and now! Now I'm being silly, but while I know that message is a message, I was just thinking something you will agree with...that it's the Spirit that compels us toward purity and I guess I am seeing God's Love even in his judgements, because when they are toward his people they seem to always lead then to a returning to him.

Now I know there may still be hints that I was aiming at your words, but I was innocent in the thought; truly thinking of past times, and not about your word. If I were going to be condemning to someone else then where do I stand if I judge them for condemning? Right? My thoughts are more innocent often than what my words say.

Now in answer to the original question....Yes we can always overcome!!!

And ofcourse I have a testimony in my bag...Since the day I looked at this man of mine and thought what a good husband he would make, and had a non-verbal talk with God right there about how many years I might have with a man of 52 when I was 33, I have had a deep sadness in me due to pretty much knowing that he would get to be much older than me and likley go on one day and leave me here alone.

I bargained with God for 20 years right then, and went on into this marriage and God gave us 2 kids and foretold me of the first in our later years. He had a heart attack very soon and I thought then I was losing him for how bad he was. Both before and after the 2nd one he had, I spent many many a time crying on his shoulder and feeling such intense inner pain just thinking of such a time coming.

Over a year ago God divinely healed him from a state he should never have been in...long story....and since then he has had no more chest pains which he had up until then the whole 10 years approx. But I now realize that what God did was heal him back to where he was before this shouldn't have happened...but yet the pains did stop. So his still does have somewhat of a weakened heart and we both think it slowly progresses just as it would have, but atleast no pains to worry me to death.

But anyway, how many many times I have thought hard and tried to in some way prepare my mind and heart for such a time that we just both feel will come. And in only the human side there is no preparing or conquering the pain...but I have gone through some deep pains in life and have, as any of you may have, had my faith and heart stretched through such pain...and have known the comfort of the Comforter, when there is no earthly comfort, amen?

And this is my comfort....I "will" walk on, and "will" endure the pain and sadness...for the sake of people I perhaps don't even know...who will need desperately the ministry and comfort of the Comforter....I will finish the course out of my Love for the Lord and his people and his callings....even if I suffer and hurt greatly.....as it has always been that when I am the most down or hurt I have always found comfort and Life in extending God's hand...and we have come to know in life that it is in our dying that the Life of Christ is "more" Life to us and also out from us....

So the dying we cannot escape, but it always brings forth more Life, and will bring Joy in the Morning, amen?

So yes, God makes a way for us to overcome all things in Him, if we believe, and Love him more than even our life.

Focus on god. You cannot look up a girls skirt and at jesus at the same time.

Again..if one acquires a distaste for sin, its because one has acquired a taste for god. 'Taste and see that the lord is good'. Be happy with god. Let god be the one that satisfies. Change your diet. Drink lots of water (living water) and you will never 'thrist' for other stuff again. THAT doctrine has become obsolete in the church...wonder why? Is nobody thirsting for god? Is nobody YEARNING for him? If you do...you wont have time to yearn for anything else. So....how does one thirst and huger for god. You starve that which wants other stuff. God is faithful to provide a way of escape. The way of escape is meditating on HIM. And what he did for you. Nobody stops sinning because they feel they should. If you are hungry you want to eat. If you want to sin, its cause your carnal nature is hungry for it. Starving the carnal nature...will certainly cause it to die.

Heneni

Heneni

Originally Posted by Heneni

Focus on god. You cannot look up a girls skirt and at jesus at the same time.

Again..if one acquires a distaste for sin, its because one has acquired a taste for god. 'Taste and see that the lord is good'. Be happy with god. Let god be the one that satisfies. Change your diet. Drink lots of water (living water) and you will never 'thrist' for other stuff again. THAT doctrine has become obsolete in the church...wonder why? Is nobody thirsting for god? Is nobody YEARNING for him? If you do...you wont have time to yearn for anything else. So....how does one thirst and huger for god. You starve that which wants other stuff. God is faithful to provide a way of escape. The way of escape is meditating on HIM. And what he did for you. Nobody stops sinning because they feel they should. If you are hungry you want to eat. If you want to sin, its cause your carnal nature is hungry for it. Starving the carnal nature...will certainly cause it to die.

Heneni

Heneni

All noble thoughts indeed, Henini. The only problem is...they do not work in practical applications. If they did, we would not find our low state as a body of Christians.

Until we admit our way is not working and humble ourselves before God for Him to reveal HIS way to our blinded eyes, our faith will be simply unable to grasp the good news of the new creation and so we will continuale to stumble along, trying to teach our flesh have to keep focused on God. New wine must go into NEW wineskins and until we are willing to put on the new ebcasue we see the absolute foolishness of trying to repair the old or teach it new tricks, we will wallow still.

We simply cannot die a little bit at a time. We must reckon ourselves DEAD.