“O Lord, I call upon You; hasten to me!
Give ear to my voice when I call to You!
May my prayer be counted as incense before You;
The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.
Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;
Keep watch over the door of my lips.
Do not incline my heart to any evil thing,
To practice deeds of wickedness
With men who do iniquity;
And do not let me eat of their delicacies.” (Psalm 141:1-4 NASB1995)
We live in very troubled times. Lies and liars, and those
who make it their practice to deceive others, are all over the place spreading
their lies and their deceptions. So, if our faith is truly in the Lord Jesus,
and he is the one guiding our lives, and if we are following him, according to
his ways, in obedience to his commands, then we must be those who do not put
our trust in other human beings, believing whatever they tell us, that it is
the truth.
Sadly, though, many professing Christians are following the
lies, and not the truth, and they are putting their hope and trust in other
humans who are lying to them, who are tricking them into believing the lies and
into rejecting the truth. These liars try to convince you that they are the “good
guys” and that certain others are “the bad guys,” when often (or sometimes) it
is the other way around. So we need to be testing the spirits, for liars
abound!
So, just because someone tells you that they are to be
trusted while they tell you that certain others are not the ones to be trusted,
don’t immediately believe them. Just because they tell you that certain others
are the enemy, it does not necessitate that the others are the enemy and that
they are not the persecuted, instead. For you may end up joining in with the
enemy in hating and persecuting the righteous while you praise and follow after
the liars.
So, how do we discern truth from lies, and truth tellers
from liars? If it is not something we can compare to the teachings of the
Scriptures, it may be hard to discern. So this is where we need prayer for
spiritual discernment and the guidance of the Holy Spirit so that we are not
caught in the devil’s trap, thinking we are doing what is right, when we are,
in truth, following after the liars and their deceptions. And we need to listen
to God!
We do need to be students of the Scriptures who study them
in their appropriate context, and not out of context, to make certain that what
we are believing is the truth, and not the lies which are spreading so rapidly.
And we need to inquire of the Lord to help us to discern lies from truth, and
those who are truly wicked from the righteous. For just because someone claims
they are “Christian,” it is not assurance that they are not of the devil.
And this is what David was talking about with the Lord. He wanted
to be kept from having his heart inclined to any evil thing. He wanted to be
kept from the practice of wickedness along with people who practice iniquity.
He did not want to be found as one who was participating in their “delicacies,”
but he wanted to be pure of heart and mind and actions so that he pleased the
Lord with his life, and so he did not wrong those not against him.
The Bible warns us much against putting our trust in other
humans, in kings and rulers of nations, in people of prominence, and any who
might persuade us to follow the lies and not the truth. So please, ask the Lord
to show you if you are believing the lies and not the truth, and if you are at
war with those who are not your enemies while you embrace and follow those who
are your true enemies, if truth be told. For you don’t want to be found worshipping
the beast while you end up persecuting the truly righteous. Please pray!
Testing the spirits: [Matthew 7:15-23; Matthew 24:11-24; Luke 6:26; John 10:1-15; Romans
16:17-19; 2 Corinthians 11:3,13-15; Ephesians 4:11-16; Philippians 3:2; 2 Peter
2:1-22; 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22; 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 1 Timothy 6:3-10; 2 Timothy
3:1-9; 1 John 4:1-6; Jude 1:1-25]
My Sheep
Based off John 10:1-30 NIV
An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
My sheep hear me.
They know me.
They listen to my
voice and obey.
I call them and lead
them.
They know my voice,
so they follow me.
They will never
follow strangers.
They will run away
from them.
The voice of a
stranger they know not;
They do not follow
him.
So, I tell you the
truth that
I am the gate, so
you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find
forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever
enters
Not by the gate;
other way,
He is the thief and
a robber.
Listen not, the
sheep to him.
Oh, I am the Good
Shepherd,
Who laid his own
life down for the sheep.
I know them. They
know me.
They will live with
me eternally.
The thief only comes
to steal and
Kill and to destroy
the church.
I have come to give
you life that
You may have it to
the full…
They know my voice,
so they follow me.
Join Not With Those
Who Practice Wickedness
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