[Warning: This is another long one.]
Too often we've been taught and made to believe that the, so called " further out there" we are, we must be under some type of demonic possession. I'm not over protesting and I'm certainly not condoning foolishness, but we must be aware of the critical pharisaical deceptions that the devil uses to try and shut down God's worshippers.
The Bible gives example after example where the devil has tried to insert this kind of criticism; from the story of David and Michal to the misperception of some being intoxicated because of the way they praised. But the devil doesn't stop there, he plants seeds which causes man to second guess God's essence, His very nature because other's status (outer cup).
I remember when I told my mother 6 years ago that I was living on the streets, her immediate response was "I taught you better that." I was taken aback, so I asked her what she meant by that remark. She hadn't said it because of the great work ethic that she had instilled in me, and she had; No, she explained that she hadn't raised me to be a prostitute. I was shocked and hurt, though I had never been engaged in that lifestyle in all my then 52 years of life, my saved and sanctified mother assumed that her saved and sanctified daughter had to be a prostitute simply because I was homeless. When I reminded her that Jesus was homeless when He dwelled among us in the earth, she seemed baffled. It just never ceases to amaze me that many the very things that we disassociate from Christ, are the very things to which He either likened Him, or extended compassion towards.
Some people say "You get treated the way you treat others." That doesn't sound very Christ-like nor is it always true. Jesus never mistreated any one, and neither have I. I gave my testimony in truth, which rubbed some people the wrong way, and I have spoken the Word of God. But, because that Word is about the repercussions of sin, particularly concerning the church, which God has been bringing to pass, and not about cars, and money, and houses, (mammon); people tend to get offended and respond with mistreatment. Yet when people of great wealth come into their midst, though they know nothing of their character or hearts; they, all but fall down and worship them, even when they're treated as something lesser.
During this valley part of my journey I have been accused of being a charity case or just wanting people to feel sorry for me: well yeah. Now while the devil uses those terms in a derogatory way to try and shame us during our valley seasons, God defines man's kind response to such sorrows as COMPASSION; something even accusers want when going through their rough times. As for charity, which the devil has been quite effective in setting forth somehow as a dirty word, or even something to be rebuked, to the point where our pride proclaims "I ain't nobody's charity case." But, isn't it ironic that charity and LOVE, in God's vocabulary, are interchangeable. The devil ain't never gonna like that. So yes I'm glad that God has set me before the world as a LOVE case. That puts the ball back your court.
Of course I want nice things again, even wealth, and yes I understand the concept of hard work [been there, done that, and more than willing to do it again; but until that comes to pass, neither I, nor anyone else deserves to be misjudged or mistreated because of indigence.
Can someone please tell me what Jesus's address was when He walked the earth?
Isaiah 58:1 is by no means an easy assignment. Yet, I cannot complain because man's response has been exactly as God foretold it would be. BUT GOD will be the judge in all these things; in fact, in many ways, He is already rendering judgement. Amen.
GOD IS NOT MOCKED
especially when it comes to His nature.
especially when it comes to His nature.
.