Accountability questions

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Permalink Reply by Charles Burwell on March 17, 2012 at 10:00am

Bruce

 

I believe that the best questions ( but by no means all inclusive ) would be to ask ourselves during our prayer time , if we feel closer to Jesus that evening than we did that morning. 

 

 I say ' during our time of prayer ' simply because we seem to have a little more conscience awareness of the Lord's presence during this time and we are less prone to ' self deception' . I speak from a lot of experience on the self deception thing.

 

Also I believe we should ask the Lord if we  have pleased Him with our actions that day. And if not , then where was it that I fell short and what can I do to deal with that .

 

I know it's not much of a list but ( in my opinion only ) if we can be that honest with ourselves and God that H e can do the work that He wants to do in us. I guess I'm more concerned with a personal relationship with the Lord than a set of steadfast rules to try to follow.

 

God bless you as you seek to draw closer to Him.

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Permalink Reply by Mary O on March 18, 2012 at 12:05pm

I'm constantly checking myself. You can't help the temptations satan may throw your way, but you can help how you deal with it. Some of my questions:

God, where is this coming from?

God, exactly what is going on here?

God, I don't understand, would You please explain it to me?

God, would you please teach me how to hear Your voice?

When you ask your question, then pause and allow God to answer.

Whatever the temptation is, you put it away. You go do something else. I like to arm myself with Bible verses concerning the subject. It is written.

Love and God bless,

Mary

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Permalink Reply by Bruce on March 22, 2012 at 1:20am

Love tthis Mary
thanks

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Permalink Reply by Mary O on March 20, 2012 at 7:03am

While I'm thinking of it, spiritualism and the curious arts can be very addictive. Satan sometimes puts things in my path to tempt me or to trick me. That's why I ask the question...God where is this coming from. You might think the difference is day and night, but satan can be very subtle. You have to understand I was so used to satan's aggresive and direct attacks that I almost missed the more subtle things. I've improved in this area. I'm working on it.  It's okay to ask where something is coming from when you don't get what's going on. God won't mind at all. He wants to give us understanding, and He wants to help us.

This is just my personal opinion, I think a spiritual addiction is worse than a physical addiction. With a physical addiction you have something concrete that you can see. It's apparent and everybody believes it. 

Love and God bless,

Mary

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Permalink Reply by JB on March 20, 2012 at 8:15am

I have heard and read something that was very interesting the other day.

When people are being trained to handle a lot of money, they will only let them feel the real money, not the counterfeits, once you know what the real money feels like, you recognize the counterfeit without question.

And I think it is with a Christian, once we know and have found the truth, the things the devil tries to deceive or tempts us with become very apparent that it is not of God.

He might be very subtle, but the Word say that they will deceive the very elect, if it were possible.

“If you abide in me and my Word abides in you, then are you my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth will set “make” you free.” Jo.8:32.

The same goes for the metaphysical religions that are born of the senses as well.

Joe

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Permalink Reply by Mary O on March 20, 2012 at 12:15pm

That's so true, Joe. I like the example you gave about holding money.

In Acts 20 Paul talked about savage wolves coming in. He charged the overseers/shepherds of the church to guard the flock. And he said that wolves would even come from among the shepherds. His words "Be on Guard" stir me inside. To fool the shepherds of the flock that Paul trained, it takes a lot of subtlty.

Acts 20:25-31

“Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

Since I was talking about subtlty, not that long ago, I encountered a spirit that I had never met before. Usually, when my path crosses a spirit, I know who it is. Honestly, this spirit ran all over me with subtlty. I had never seen anything like it. The good news is I'm working on the education part. I got some Bible teachings about it and I'm working it over and over again. It will have to work a lot harder in the future.

Love and God bless,

Mary

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