Posts Tagged ‘devil’

That One Sin!

Posted in Bible Study, Christian Living, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 28, 2016| 1 Comment »

 

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Spiritual Depression: #3 “That One Sin,” a sermon by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

 

 

Are you an unhappy Christian?  We aren’t meant to be that way you know.  But, many are that’s for sure. Why is that?  Do you sometimes feel like David in Psalms 42:5.

 Psa 42:5a KJV Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me?

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, “The moment we become Christians we become very special objects of the devil.”

This is true and it is one reason why we get down and depressed. The devil begins to work in our minds and tries to make us ineffective for the work of Christ.

Are you suffering greatly because of something in your past?  I mean before you even became a Christian?  There might be something that you did, and you keep going over it to try to figure the whole mess out.  Or, it might be something you said to someone that haunts you even to today.  Maybe you made a promise to God that if he answered a certain prayer of yours that you would do something in return, and you didn’t keep your promise.  The devil likes this.  He has us right where he wants us.

When our countenance is gloomy, and we look like we just sucked on a dill pickle we are not a very good example of what a Christian is to unbelievers.  We need to be aware of that and be a good example for Christ’s sake.

You need to listen to this sermon as Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains why this happens to us.  We need a right understanding of what happened at salvation.  He helps us understand why our past sins should not affect our moods today.  We can be joyful in the Lord!

For myself, yes, I do get down at times.  But, I don’t stay there.  I know what Christ has done for me by dying on the cross for my sins.  Those, by the way, are past, present, and future sins.  That is a mystery to me, but it is what the Bible says and I believe it.  I’ve noticed that past events of my life come into my mind and truthfully I do have many regrets.  But, I’ve learned not to dwell on them. When I find myself doing that I have to rush to God and ask Him to help me change my thoughts.  I have to focus on how wonderful He is and what great things He has done for me.  I have to praise Him!  For me it is good to start thinking about what I’m thankful for.  I begin with my salvation and then it goes on and on from there.  Soon I am no longer down at heart, but my spirit is lifted up to the heavens.

If you are a Christian but not really happy please listen to this sermon.  There is so much good teaching in it and it will help you understand why you are not happy.

 

 

 

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Fear of Fear -Pt.3 (Blame the devil?)

Posted in Agoraphobia, Anxiety & Stress, Bible Study, Christian, devotional, Faith, Health, inspirational, Panic Attacks, Panic Disorder Support, Religion, Scripture, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 14, 2008| 2 Comments »

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We’ve looked at several things that Paul and Kim, the people in our examples had to understand to conquer fear and panic.  Remember that Paul was afraid to cross bridges and Kim was afraid to drive or ride in cars. We started to look at some important facts that Paul needed to understand and consider in order to conquer these problems.  They will help all of us.

1.  His fear was real.
2.  His fear was wrong and sinful.
3.  His fear was not of bridges; it was a fear that had become associated with bridges.
4.  Paul’s real fear was of the experiences.  (The cause of fear)
5.  Here is the key to becoming an overcomer.
6. There is not some mysterious thing going on.

Let’s move on to some other matters to consider:

7. “The devil made me do it.”

Many people think and have been taught that the devil gives us these fearful thoughts. So, we speak to the devil and rebuke him and tell him something like this:  “Devil, (or evil spirit, or spirit of fear,) I command you in the Name of Jesus to get away from me and leave me alone, you have no right over me as I am a Christian.  In the Name of Jesus, depart from me and go to where God sends you.” 

I’ve done this myself, and it seemed to me that it worked for the time being.  But those unwanted fearful thoughts did keep coming back and I’d have to rebuke the devil again. It was a never-ending battle.  When I wrote Panic Buster: Learn to Conquer Panic Attacks and Agoraphobia, I included something like that.  Now, I know that was an error.  At the time I thought it was good teaching, and even had support from a pastor about it, but since then I’ve learned differently.

I can not find anywhere in the Bible where it tells us to “rebuke” the devil.  It does tell us in James to “resist” the devil.  These are two different things.

James 4:7 NASB   Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

I do believe the devil can give us unwanted thoughts.  But, it is up to us to not entertain them.  We resist them and thereby resist the devil.  I believe blaming the devil for everything is overblown today.  It can get so we see the devil behind every bush.  I’m sure he has more important things to do then pick on me all the time.  He is not all powerful like God.  He cannot be everywhere at once like God, and he does not know everything like God.  So, he must be busy working on bigger things than myself.  Yes, he does have hordes of demons working for him and he can send them to pester us.  But, we know that God is greater then any of them and He is with us all the time to protect us.  So, we need not let them bother us any more. 

You will see by the scripture below that even Michael the archangel did not rail against the devil but turned him over to the Lord to rebuke.

Jude 1:8-9 NABS Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

Note from John MacArthur Study Bible: “railing judgment: Rather than personally cursing such a powerful angel as Satan, Michael deferred to the ultimate, sovereign power of God following the example of the Angel of the Lord in Zec 3:2.  This is the supreme illustration of how Christians are to deal with Satan and demons.  Believers are not to address them, but rather to seek the Lord’s intervening power against them.”

We can pray to God and ask Him to rebuke the devil for us.  We can also ask God to help us control our thoughts and get them where they should be.

It is easy to blame someone or something else for our anxious thoughts.  When we say, “the devil made me do it,” we are skirting the real problem.  We need to take responsibility for our own thoughts and actions.  Actually, this may be a trap by the devil.  If we focus on him and not the real problem then we will not win in the end.  He will continue to have us in his grip of fear.

Eve blamed the devil in the Garden of Eden. 

Genesis 3:13 NASB Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

But, she was the one that made the decision to sin.  The responsibility fell on her and then God cursed us in allowing her sin to be carried down to each of us.

So, let’s not be like Eve and blame the enemy.  Let’s take a closer look at how we think.  I believe that most panic attacks can be stopped if we learn how to think correctly.  It is so important to realize our thoughts can control us and even effect us physically.  I pray you are seeing that.

Blessings,
Bonnie

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