Deception in our Spiritual beliefs is not something that is uncommon. It can happen to just about anyone who does not know the Word of God. No one likes being deceived in any way but Spiritual deception is the worst of all. The Bible says there are many deceivers out there, so we must be careful that we do not fall into a deceiver's trap and there are many of them if we do not know the word of God and use it as a rule of our faith.
I have been deceived, I am not proud of it and at the time I thought I was serving God with all my heart but if we do not study to show ourselves approved unto God, we can be deceived, if we do not pray for under-standing of the Scriptures as we read, we can be deceived. I want to share the greatest deception out there with you and hope that with God's help, I can do it justice.
We can fall into two ditches as we travel life's journey. The ditch on the right or the ditch on the left. We are told in the Bible that the road to heaven is a straight and narrow road and that we must stay on that road. What is that road? It is the road of trust and obedience. It is not trying to make up our own religion, religion has many aspects and many of them are not on the straight and narrow road. They have taken to one ditch or the other. I would like to share the big ditch I was in.
It wasn't a bad ditch to be in, in some respects it was a healthy ditch but do you know that Satan always mixes truth with error, if you are not secure in the truth you believe, he will come and mix some error with it.
That's what he did to me. I was into obeying to the letter, everything God wanted me to do, I believed I was eating the right things, dressing properly, and acting appropriately. My speech was sorta of OK, but I didn't really think it was bad, I didn't swear, take God's name in vain or anything like that, but I was into one thing that was destroying me, Oh, how much I hate to admit it, I was in to picking everyone else apart and finding fault with everything, everyone did, except me. I am so ashamed of that and have repented over and over again of my waywardness and of the ditch I was in. People didn't eat right, they didn't dress right, their language was bad, I just was not a happy camper in my beliefs. I knew something was wrong with my beliefs but didn't know what it was.
Gradually, as I tried to comprehend the truths in the Bible, I discovered that the ditch that I was in was a deep ditch of which I could not climb out of without help. So where was my help? My help comes from God, and God only. The big mistake I had made was trying to be a Christian all on my own and of course it never works. Jesus even said, 'of myself, I can do nothing', so how was I to get out of this ditch except to let God take complete control of my life and that was the only way I was going to make it. That is not an easy thing to learn, to let go of all earthly support and let God take control. As I have studied the art of complete surrender, I have been able to gradually climb out of this deep ditch of 'do it yourself beliefs' and let God have His way with me. Has it been easy? Yes and no. I am still climbing, but in Matthew 11:31 Jesus says, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." If I yoke up with Him, He carries the burden and that makes it light.
So what has happened to me when I learned the real truth about my relationship with Christ, instead of criticizing others, I want to help others. Instead of being down all the time because I don't know what is wrong with me, I have learned that whatever state I am in, to be happy. Is that easy? No, I am still learning.
There is joy in helping others. There is great joy in leading others to Christ, and usually the best method to do that is being a friend and lending a hand when you can and sharing your happiness with them.
Did I give up on my eating the right things? No. Did I give up on wanting to be obedient to God's will for me? No. Did I give up on dressing modestly? No. What did I give up? I gave up my critical attitude of others, of finding fault with others, and just allowing God to work in each person's life as He sees fit to do.
And LETTING HIM HAVE HIS WAY WITH ME, SURRENDERING MY ALL AND LETTING HIM WORK OUT HIS WILL IN MY LIFE. I can tell you this is a restful journey, just letting God do what He wants to do for you is so restful, so peaceful and so wonderful. I don't want it any other way.
Do I fall into that ugly ditch? Yes but if I tend to slip, I cry out for help, I have a Helper that keeps me from getting to deep into it and the ditch I seem to be slipping into now is on the other side of the road. It is the ditch of not being able to see the good things around me, not in people but just things. I don't praise the Lord enough for the good in my life, but I am learning.
I learned a great lesson the first of this week. I have osteoporosis real bad and have broken so many bones I can't count them any more. My whole spine has been broken twice and the pain I cannot describe. I have broken my left hip and have three pins in it. Have broken many ribs, probably 20, some twice. I am not asking for sympathy, I am going to praise the Lord for what He did for me this week. I was outside picking up after my dog and our back yard has a privacy fence all around it so you don't feel the wind and I went to dump it and opened the gate and a gust of wind hit the gate and knocked me down just that quick on the cement sidewalk. I landed on my back, on my broken hip and got a whiplash that caused my head to hit hard on the cement. My German Shepherd came over to me and after I figured out I might not be broken, I asked her to hold still while I used her to pull myself up. She was so good about it and walked back into the house with me after I closed the gate. I fell harder there than I did when I broke my hip. I have been sore mostly all over but no broken bones, I am so grateful, it could have ended in a terrible tragedy for me but instead it ended in praise to my God and I am still praising Him.
I have broken bones when the car hit a bump, or stepped off a curb, or opened a gate and fractured a rib.
See why I am praising the Lord so much. Only two of my breaks were from a fall. The rest were just from simple things, and I have been so careful.
God has said in Galatians 6:7 "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap."
Don't be deceived my friend, even into the modern day deception of doing your own works to earn eternal life. For whatever we sow, that we will reap. I can testify to that. I may share my other deception that I fell into tomorrow. It is so important to pray as we study so that we will have a safe guide into the truths that we want to follow. Don't be deceived, God is not mocked, whatever we sow, that we will reap. Grandma Joan
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