Tuesday, August 30,
2016, 7:17 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Jesus, Lead Me.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Jude 1 (Select vv. ESV).
Jude, a servant of
Jesus Christ and brother of James,
To those who are
called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
May mercy, peace, and
love be multiplied to you.
Beloved, although I
was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary
to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all
delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long
ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the
grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus
Christ.
Now I want to remind
you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the
land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels
who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper
dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the
judgment of the great day— just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding
cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural
desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
Yet in like manner these
people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and
blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with
the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to
pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” But these
people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all
that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. Woe to them! For
they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to
Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion. These are hidden reefs at
your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding
themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late
autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of
their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been
reserved forever.
It was also about
these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord
comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to
convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have
committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly
sinners have spoken against him.” These are grumblers, malcontents, following
their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to
gain advantage.
But you must remember,
beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to
you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly
passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the
Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and
praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the
mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on
those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show
mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
Now to him who is able
to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of
his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our
Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and
forever. Amen.
Deceptive Spirits
Satan and his dogs (his false
teachers; his messengers) are charmers, sweet talkers, liars, deceivers, master
manipulators, unholy, unfaithful, playful, witty, fun, wicked, abusive,
sexually immoral, dividers of the people, and/or plotters of evil - always
doing their evil deeds in secret so that no one can see what they are doing.
But God sees. Satan’s messengers are false shepherds of the people, who
feed only themselves. They are wolves in
sheep’s clothing. Their main goal is to deceive the minds of believers in Jesus
Christ and to destroy the true church. They may look harmless and playful, and
you may feel warmth and affection for these individuals, like you would for a
puppy dog, but they are of Satan, and they are out to destroy us, so don’t let them
fool you.
When they feel threatened
because you are preaching the full gospel of Jesus Christ, they will come after
you like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, but they may do it in a way
that feels as though they are in agreement with you, and they may even pretend
to believe what you believe. Yet, they will subtly, gradually and cleverly
insert lies into the truth so that you may not even notice the lies if you are
not discerning. Or, they may try to dissuade you from following the gospel of
Jesus Christ by trying to make you feel as though they really care about you
and they just can’t understand why you won’t listen to them, and why you won’t
believe them, but they can’t be trusted, because they have a snake’s bite.
The Bible warns us against such
men who infiltrate our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus.
Yet, we won’t recognize them if we are not walking closely with the Lord Jesus
so that we are given a spirit of discernment to spot what they look like in character
(as is described in this book of Jude) and in facial expression (in particular
the eyes), i.e. their eyes may appear to be glassed over. These dogs (false
teachers) are out to deceive the church and to capture as many as they can for
Satan’s kingdom. They trample underfoot the covering of love that God has for
his children, using the authority of Christ as their footstool.
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what
he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will
reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will
reap eternal life” (Gal. 6:7-8).
Satan, through his servants,
tries to get us to doubt God, to doubt God’s word and his voice to us, and to
doubt our relationship with Jesus Christ. He likes to try to make us
feel weak and helpless and to convince us of such in order to get us to not
obey the Lord. As well, he likes to try to make us question our dependency on
Jesus Christ and to even suggest we are listening to him instead of to Christ. He will say some things that are true, but he will mix lies
in with it and will twist and distort the truth. He will try to show us
that belief in Jesus Christ and the true gospel, which removes idolatry from
people’s lives, is “legalistic” and that he can provide a church and faith that
is “fun” and free from the guilt of sin.
Satan will try to get us to
compromise our beliefs and convictions by trying to shame us into a compromise.
He will try to convince us to bring ourselves back under the slavery of sin and
of men, when Jesus Christ came to set us free. As well, he will try to
convince you that he hears from God and his followers will even pretend to be
believers in Christ. He tries to tell us not to put our trust in the Lord Jesus
but to put our trust in man. He preys on our weaknesses and tries to convince
us that we are helpless and that we need him. He
tries to convince us not to trust in the words of the Lord but to trust in the
words of man instead, and to let men give us the counsel and direction we need,
and to let man be our gods. And, he will attempt to convince us not to
believe in the promises of God nor to believe the Lord’s servants when they tell
us those same promises.
When Satan throws his fiery
darts at us, and he will use human beings as his instruments of his deceptive
messages, we must know the truth so that we can put on the full armor of God. They
prey on those who are emotionally weak and who doubt themselves, so we must
remain strong and we must put on the truth to counteract their lies. They will
try to convince us that we are weak and powerless, but we are not. We are
children of the King. They will try to pull us away from doing the will of God
and from sharing the gospel and will try to convince us we are crazy and/or
that we are hearing from Satan. Know this! - They said the same thing about
Jesus. They said he was crazy and they accused him of being of Satan, but he
refuted that lie by telling them that Satan does not drive out Satan or else
his kingdom will fall. Satan is not going to be giving out the gospel and
calling people to repent of their sins and to turn to faith in Jesus Christ,
unless he is doing it, for a time, to infiltrate our ranks in order to slowly
introduce his lies and deceptions. Normally he will try to make you believe you
can go to heaven and still live in your sin because of God’s grace. And, that
lie is going to send many to hell.
I believe the day of evil is
upon us, that judgment is near, and that the lion has come out of his lair and
he is out to attack, kill and destroy believers in Jesus Christ. His greatest
weapon is deception and manipulation, charm, smooth talk, i.e. he will try to
make you feel like he is your best friend. He may look like a warm and cuddly puppy,
but he is dead and he has the roar of a lion and he is bent on devouring each
and every one of us. So, we must resist him, and we must daily put on the armor
of God so that we are not led into the devil’s trap. The voice of God says
“Repent of your sins and believe the good news!” The voice of Satan says, “Have
a good time” and he says that those who are preaching messages about repentance,
obedience and judgment are crazy and need to be put away. The Lord gave me a
picture today of the beheading of believers in today’s world – lock them up and
drug them up so that they can’t think, pray or witness for Jesus Christ, and
they are beheaded. Oh, how I pray and believe the Lord Jesus for deliverance
from the evil one.
Jesus,
Lead Me / An Original Work / July 22, 2011
Jesus, lead me all the way.
Be my hope and be my stay.
Gently lead me where I should go,
So Your Spirit, I want to know.
Open up my heart to You.
Fill me with Your love and truth.
Make my heart want to obey.
Be my Lord today. Gently lead always.
Jesus, lover of my soul,
Cleanse my heart, and make me whole;
Be transformed in my heart today,
As I turn from my sin and pray.
Make Your will known to my heart.
May I not from You depart.
How I long to hear You now,
As I humbly bow. Jesus, hear me now.
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