Christian Living
Many times within the Christian church we are left bewildered and empty wondering why we are here and who we can really trust. Is what we believe the truth or is it deception?
We look at ourselves and we have a deep knowing that we can’t really trust ourselves due to the lies we have buried deep down.
Our very thoughts which we secretly hold and don’t share due to the fact we no that others will judge us harshly, weather we are being true to ourselves or not does not come into the equation.
This book aims to guide you through the battle field of lies which we all tend to hold steadfast in to the living realisation of the truth which is only found in Jesus Christ. You may be thinking well I have Jesus in my life and I don’t lie; please don’t let the devil deceive you any more and read this book prayerfully and allow the living God to transform you more into His likeness. This book is written only to tear down walls the enemy has placed within God’s people and to rebuild what God himself desires for His church.
Many subjects are controversial and at times are taboo but to bring lies into the light we must look at these controversial subjects.
Let us by the guiding of the Holy Spirit take a journey to a higher calling and allow God to reveal Himself to us. So I would like to call this journey the journey of holiness and reality.
My prayer is that your eyes of your understanding be opened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. (Ephesians 1:18)
Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want
You to be ignorant.
You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other
You were influenced and led astray to mute idols.
Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the
Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one
Can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the
Holy Spirit. (1Corinthians 12:1-3)
Here we have the apostle Paul concerned for the Church due to their understanding of spiritual gifts. Today we have the same problem people being ignorant about the gifts.
Today many people hold on to the belief that the gifts are not for today. Then we have those who believe the gifts are so important they become out of balance. As you listen to both arguments you need discernment to discern what really is true, as in a sense both believe right due to the understanding of what has been taught.
We need to realise Satan comes in distorts God’s word so we believe a lie then we wonder why the word we believe isn’t really working for our lives.
Paul was well aware in his time the church in Corinth were ignorant of a few things about spiritual gifts yet they were the church exercising these same gifts.
Today I have heard and seen many times some people exercising the gifts and yet as Paul says: You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other You were influenced and led astray to mute idols.
In other words before you believed and lived for Jesus Christ you were influenced and led astray. I just need to listen to teenagers and hear about it’s not cool or nobody does that the peer pressure of today’s world is intense just as it was in Paul’s day.
Church’s today are falling into the same trap we become influenced by systems and desires which have contaminated the truth in God’s word, and we need to repent of our fleshly desires which we have allowed through excuses just to make us comfortable.
Speaking in tongues:
We have all heard of many stories of someone speaking in tongues and someone who is in the meeting understands the tongue and interprets it as a cursing unto God. We hear these stories and many more like it and we come to believe those who don’t think tongues are for today as the truth.
I would like to share with you an experience which I have experienced.
I was running a weekly prayer meeting in Christchurch New Zealand and one night a well known Christian lady joined our prayer meeting as we were praying some were praying in tongues I felt the Lord quicken to me to listen to her tongue. As I listened I noticed she repeated one word constantly and she seemed to be foaming at the mouth. I spoke with this woman of my concern and what I felt the Lord told me and I asked her to talk to her pastor.
Now I knew this woman and she really loved the Lord unfortunately she picked up a counterfeit tongue which hindered her to receive the real gift as she believed she already had it.
What I found out was she was spirit filled before she understood it and wasn’t according to the scriptures there were strongholds in her life which distorted God’s word and robbed her of many blessings yes she was robbed.
Through discernment by the leading of the Holy Spirit the spirit which caused this lady grief and kept her in bondage was brought into God’s wonderful light and she experienced His truth.
Praise God he loves us so much this lady who was also a friend of mine, was set free. Today with her husband they are growing in God and receiving his blessings.
Many believers who earnestly love the Lord and desire his will for their lives believe the gifts are not for today. I was one such believer! Why do such people believe in lies like this?
Well due to the wrong usage of the gifts in some churches and some scripture taken out of context either by our parents or grand parents who were God fearing people who loved the Lord and we held them in high stead believeing what they have taught us. Maybe our pastors taught us these things after all they are men of God they must be right.
When we don’t check things out ourselves and just accept it we tend to open ourselves up to destruction by believing a lie. These and other distorted ideas we live with sometimes without realizing it, are the driving force of doubt quenching our spirits and the Holy spirit We need to bring this into the light so we can see the truth.
Many believe from this scripture that the gifts are not needed in the church today: Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. (1Corinthians 13:8-10)
People believe that these scriptures are for today because Christ has come the perfection these gifts are no longer needed, some even say that the church is the perfection this scripture is talking about. But hang on a minute we need to look back into scripture for the truth.
We started with chapter twelve of 1 Corinthians which talks about spiritual gifts naming them, from the twelfth verse to the end of this chapter it talks about the church as one body with many members, then chapter thirteen starts the love chapter still talking about the church. A question I want you to ask yourselves is the church perfect today? Your answer should be no!
So we can see verse ten hasn’t come to pass yet because we need the gifts in the church being used in the spirit only toward perfecting it. Then and only then we can honestly say we no longer need the gifts.
You still ask yourself the question “yea but I have heard of tongues being used and it was just perverted cursing”. I also asked the same question and rightly so because we are to seek what is true.
But here is what Paul said about this: Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the
Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one
Can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
Those who hear a tongue cursing Christ or any part of the God head is not speaking by the Holy Spirit. It is impossible to speak curses or anything perverted about God by the spirit of God.
We cannot throw the baby out with the bath water just because there are some people who do speak with tongues that curse which isn’t the gift of the Holy Spirit in fact it’s a counterfeit tongue.
The true gift of the Holy Spirit is and should be discerned. Notice in the last verse Paul goes on to say No one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.
In other words those who speak with a counterfeit tongue could
not confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Be very aware of
those people who don’t confess with their mouths that
Jesus Christ is Lord especially who claim to be believers and
are in office within the church remember the word says: Mat 7:15
(15) Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.
False prophets - The word prophet originally means one who foretells future events. As prophets, however, were commonly regarded as public instructors on the subject of religion, the word came to denote all who were religious teachers. A false prophet is a teacher of incorrect doctrine, or one falsely and unjustly laying claims to divine inspiration.
Who come in sheep’s clothing - The sheep is an emblem of innocence, sincerity, and harmlessness. To come in sheep’s clothing is to assume the appearance of holiness and innocence, when the heart is evil.
Ravening wolves - Rapacious; voraciously devouring; hungry even to rage. Applied to the false teachers, it means that they assumed the appearance of holiness in order that they might the more readily get the property of the people. They were full of extortion and excess.
To conclude our study on these lines Paul goes on in chapter 14
Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. (1Corinthians 14:1)
This doesn’t sound like Paul was saying that spiritual gifts are not for today he said to eagerly desire them! Boy no wonder satan has tried to delude us of God’s truth. God’s heart is expressed here in this scripture through Paul for us all.
So we can come to the conclusion we have to be careful no wonder the Lord directs us to test the spirits…
Now to look at the way some churches use the gift of tongues
In ignorance we can become so perplexed and set in our ways going along with things like lambs to the slaughter.
We enter into what is called free worship you have hundred plus speaking in tongues oh what kayos no one can and no one does interpret as the scriptures say. Yet when you say something the reply is this is an individual worship in unity unto God. Where is the discernment where is the Godly order, where is the Spirit of God in all of this. No wonder those who believe the lie that the gifts are not for today, when you see the gifts being defiled and used un wisely.
I have even heard of some churches believing if you don’t speak in tongues your not born again your not saved. This is just another lie from the father of lies.
Brothers and sisters lets look at the scriptures and put what we are doing, right before the living God.
You may be feeling quiet disturbed so far from what you have read this could be for a few reasons and one reason is that you may have a religious spirit and you are feeling it’s manifestation
Or you aren’t open or prepared to challenge your belief system because you are comfortable, or proud or even self righteous. For whatever reason please brothers and sisters bring these feelings into the light of God’s word and let Him show you the truth for the truth shall set you free.
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