Why America is in danger of Judgement and the different levels of sin

 

This video does a clear explanation of sin, trespass, transgression, and iniquity and how as a nation we are following into a dangerous pattern and if we don’t turn around and repent, then we will see the natural disasters increasing.  From the Bible it clearly explains what the cup of iniquity is and how when the cup of iniquity is full God can pour out His Judgment upon a nation.

I believe that the Church should take this standing in these last days –

Ezekiel 3

¹⁶ Now it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁷ “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: ¹⁸ When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. ¹⁹ Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.

²⁰ “Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. ²¹ Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; also you will have delivered your soul.”

 

Jeremiah 18:7-9 says –

⁷ The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, ⁸ if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. ⁹ And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, ¹⁰ if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.

 

So for the person and the nation when they sin, there is hope, and ultimately it’s hope remains in Jesus Christ, and turning away from the iniquity and repenting and living an honest and decent life before God.  When God gives people over to a reprobate mind, then He has no reason to spare the nation from violent natural disasters much worse than what we saw in Japan’s earthquake, and they were prepared for the worst case scenario.  This isn’t meant to scare you, but to caution you to get your heart right before God, and I know we all make mistakes and do things wrong before God, at times because we are not perfect people.  But as a nation – wouldn’t you like to see less people dying and being killed everywhere?   It would make the President’s job – whoever is easier, it would make the Senate and Congressmen’s job easier, and people would be getting along better if we just followed with this nation was founded on instead of going against the divine order of God.
Once again I’d like to thank Perry Stone for putting into clear perspective this teaching on the dangers of Judgment upon America and the different levels of sin and for now putting his broadcasts on youtube, and to God for allowing our voices to be heard so that we can share the Good News of the Gospel, then we are living a repentant life before God, then we can experience the grace, favor, and mercy of God resting upon our lives.

Thank the Lord that He provides through the programs for the poor and needy through the government, but at the same time, the Government has to do what’s right and follow a sense of ethics and pass laws based on wise decision making, instead of following the crowd and delighting in the demands of the people when they are not the best decisions to make.

 

How the Law in the Old Testament reveals Jesus and the heart of the Father

Heavenly Father,

I pray that you refresh us all with Your Presence today, and remove anything that may be hindering us today and strengthen us with might in the inner man.  I pray that You anoint my hands to type this message that You want me to type, and I pray for a clarity and focus to be able to preach this Word today.  I pray that You open the minds and the hearts of the people reading this message today and let the Holy Spirit just flow through me. Thank You Blessed Father.

In Jesus Mighty name I pray,

Amen.

Some clarification and teaching needs to be built up in the body of Christ.  Do you say that the Law is bad, or that there is nothing good about the Law?  Do you say that because of the New Testament that the Old Testament has been done away with?  Do you often feel condemned by the Law, but do not know how to understand the benefits of the Law.  Have you been listening to other preachers and teachers instead of digging out the Word of God for yourself?  Confusion needs to be put aside, and clarity needs to be put into picture.  These are the last days and we need to have the whole Word of God as our breastplate of righteousness.  Do you believe that the New Testament is the only valid part of Scripture?  Do you believe that Pauline epistles are the best revelation of Scripture and everything else needs to be ignored?  Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and the whole Scripture is about Him.  So here I am going to attempt, Lord willing, to make clear some things.  But it is my encouragement to you to search out the Scriptures for yourself.  My message is not meant to condemn anyone or to bring any confusion, and it is geared for people that are able to search out the Scripture for themselves.

¹Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD. ²Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. ³They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways. ⁴Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. ⁵O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! ⁶Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments. ⁷I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments. ⁸I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.Psalm 119 – the words in bold are very important to understanding about the Law.  Psalm 119 is a very important Psalm and it was by David who was a man after God’s own heart.  I recommend you read the whole Psalm and pray it.  He loved God and he had the same struggles as we do in keeping God’s commands, dealing with sin, but he had a pure heart and even found forgiveness for his sin, but it was the priest that had to make atonement for him, and now we under the Heavenly Priest Melchizedek who was the first priest who came to Abraham and is Jesus who came as it says in Hebrews.A basic definition of the Law is: Law  is an Instruction or teaching which could be prophetic- Jesus said that the Law and the Prophets testified of Him, which is also called Torah.The whole Bible is full of prophecies and teachings which reveal Jesus and His character and nature and in turn revealing the Father’s heart.  Advice to people when reading the Old Testament, is not to take it so personally, but to understand the time, and context, and the people who were being spoken to and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal it to you.  You will find wisdom when you do this.  Be careful of when people try to make personal applications, when there are not supposed to be personal applications.  Yes of course God can give you a rhema, but the Law is the teaching and prophetic revelations of Jesus Christ, and the New Testament says not to despise prophecies, so even though it may be difficult to understand at times, when you grow and mature the things that you do not understand will be revealed to you.
Testimonies or edah – witness  (the testimonies in the Law are a witness to Jesus)Witness – the witness means whatever testifies of Jesus or of God, and we have many testimonies of Jesus now.
Iniquity or evel means injustice or even could mean violent deeds of injustice, unrighteousness, or wrong – this is just a guess but it is probably where we get the word evil from.Have you ever been wronged, and you wished that you could go and pay them back, but then you heard God tell you to go and forgive that person and that He is your vindicator?  That’s because of His divine Justice.  His Justice, is not like man’s justice and I may do a post on that some other time.  He can decide what’s in a person’s heart whenever they do something and He can make right what once went wrong, and He can deal the proper vindication because that is part of who He is because He does not change.  Luke 13: says: ²⁴Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. ²⁵When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:²⁶Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. “²⁷But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. Jesus did not like injustice either.  Just because He is a person of grace, that does not mean that all the iniquities that we have done, and you will know if your heart is pure or not, but through His big Rubix Cube, He knows how to take something that is very mixed up and bring it back to all the right colors in all the right places even if it means He has to pop them all out and put them back in again.  What it takes to enter through the narrow gate is a refining process to purge out everything ungodly and to go through sufferings, and tribulations, but to endure through them all so that you can be like shining gold.

Way – 1) way, road, distance, journey, manner- Jesus is the Way to the Father’s heart and bridges the gap that was made through sin
a) road, way, path- Jesus is the road and the path we have to take
b) journey- Jesus is the journey we have to take through the Holy Spirit
c) direction- Jesus is the direction in which we have to go
d) manner, habit, way- we must strive to the best of our ability, taking on His strength to help us to be like Him to have his habits – for the places where we fail and make mistakes Jesus understands, and that’s where His grace comes because otherwise He knows we would all have OCD trying to keep up with all the 613 ways, but it is the way to enter into His gates
e) of course of life (fig.)- This is the course of life in which we must take, and that is Jesus
f) of moral character (fig.)- Jesus moral character is what we need to take on.

Blue Letter Bible. “Dictionary and Word Search for derek (Strong’s 1870)“. Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2012. 30 Apr 2012. < http:// www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?
Strongs=H1870&t=KJV >Jesus is the Way – and the journey into the Father’s heart, which is the ultimate goal of our life as Christians.Precepts (piqquwd)– principles or rules intended to regulate behavior or thought, Statute – something prescribed or bound or limit, ordinances – boundariesBlue Letter Bible. “Dictionary and Word Search for piqquwd (Strong’s 6490)“. Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2012. 30 Apr 2012. < http:// http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H6490&t=KJV > We have the principles, but we need the Person and without the person we are lost.  We must strive to never lose sight of the person, and even though we don’t feel Him, or get excited every time we hear about Him – because we must love Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, sometimes, we will not always feel like He is there, or that we are in passionate love with Him, but that our hearts need to be purged and purified before Him so I pray that He ignites our hearts, minds, souls, and spirits, to be on fire and to love Him, and to thank Him in everything because there will be times, when we cannot or do not have the strength or energy to read the Bible in the last days, and we will be tested and shaken, but be calm and steady because our God and our Lord has equipped us for every good work.
Commandments (mitsvah) – things prohibited by God.-Somethings for our own good need to be prohibited- if we’re doing things that are harmful to ourselves, and God knew, which is why He created all these things, but the greater commandment, which is to love God with all our heart, our mind, all our soul, all our strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves…We need to remember to keep these things forefront in our hearts.  We must choose our thoughts, and live beyond our feelings, and sometimes your body and your emotions will tell you things which don’t agree and line up with the Holy Spirit, but that doesn’t mean that there is anything wrong with you as a Christian, but that the Spirit of God is taking you through a refining process and He is taking out the leaven in your life.

Judgments (mishpat) –

1) judgment, justice, ordinancea) judgment1) act of deciding a case2) place, court, seat of judgment3) process, procedure, litigation (before judges)4) case, cause (presented for judgment)5) sentence, decision (of judgment)6) execution (of judgment)7) time (of judgment)b) justice, right, rectitude (attributes of God or man)c) ordinanced) decision (in law)e) right, privilege, due (legal)f) proper, fitting, measure, fitness, custom, manner, planWhen we are in a kingdom, we must know our rights, our rights and our inheritance in the Kingdom of God are defined throughout the whole Bible.  The Pharisees took these concepts and used them to make people feel like they had to live up to their standards, where God had different standards.  They were the traditions of men, and those traditions were very dangerous because they were getting so religious about keeping up with all the tediousness, which were only guidelines on how to live a healthy life.  The consequences were exagerrated to make a point, and even today we have consequences – if you have 50 gallons of beer, you are probably going to have some pretty bad consequences, and God knew that.  Now if you’ve tried your best to follow what you know in your heart to be the right thing as a Christian, and that is based on what the Word of God says then there will be no reason for condemnation, but if you know in your heart that you have done something wrong, then the best thing is to go and repent for it, and to receive the abundance of God’s grace and mercy.  The Holy Spirit is always with you and He will never leave you or forsake you, and even if you drift away, but avoid doing evil at times, The Word of God says in Ephesians 1:13 ¹³ In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, ¹⁴ who^[b] is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.  The key being is that you trust God.
Blue Letter Bible. “Dictionary and Word Search for mishpat (Strong’s 4941)“. Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2012. 30 Apr 2012. < http:// www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?
Strongs=H4941&t=KJV

 

So to summarize, we need to love each other and that is the fulfillment of the law and when we don’t love and forgive each other we feel miserable, and God does not want us to be that way, and when we don’t love others we do injustice before them, and God sees that and He tries best to rectify the matter, but we are limited to the free-will that is in our hearts to choose Him for eternal redemption, and He is not going to let you go without a fight, so don’t lose heart, don’t be discouraged, and don’t lose faith because God is an awesome God and He will never leave you alone, and He has known things since time began and He is working mighty miracles.

 

Heavenly Father,

I pray that you ignite us with passion to serve You even more, and that You remove sicknesses away from all of us, and remove all the burdens and the yokes, that come from living in these evil last days, and that You shower us with Your mercy and Your grace, and do not let us grow weary in well doing, because we know in the end that everything is about You and all this is for You and for Your glory and we ask You to draw near to all of us today, and remove any anger or bitterness, resentment, fear, guilt, shame and insecurites in all of our lives, as we draw close to You as we draw nearer and nearer to You and farther and farther away from the world and it’s wickedness.  Forgive us Lord, for the times we have taken out anger on other people in our times of distress, forgive us Lord for any thoughts that are unpleasing to You, and forgive us Lord for any way that we have not acted and according to Your Word and let us receive the Word with clarity and insight and purpose, and just let us walk away with restoration peace, and bring divine healing to all of Your precious saints, everywhere from the top of their heads to the souls of their feet and let Your glory be shone throughout the Earth Lord God, fasten us to You with the glue of the Holy Spirit.

 

In Jesus Mighty Name I pray,

Amen.

 

 

 

 

Perfect Love Casts out Fear

I need this message more than anyone I know.

Heavenly Father,

I pray that I am anointed to preach this WORD without fear, guilt, shame, or inferiority.  I pray for revelation and insight that will transform hearts and purify them as well letting them be able to receive the Truth of God’s Word.  I seal this post with the Blood of Jesus and let only what is suiting to Your purposes be fulfilled in me writing this post.  Give divine revelation and inspiration from the Holy Spirit.  Help me Holy Spirit not only to preach this WORD, but to see a transformation of my own life in this area.

In Jesus Mighty Name I pray,

Amen.

4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, ³ and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

⁴ You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. ⁵ They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. ⁶ We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Verse 4 only applies to those people who have the Holy Spirit, which comes through accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  Verse 6 points affirms the reading of the New Testament and validation of it.  The whole counsel of the Word of God is inspired by the Holy Spirit.  The He that is in you, is the Holy Spirit, and the he who is in the world is the devil.  We are coming into times when some people are going to start to be trampled on by what they believe and what we have believed before and thought was true and the very foundation that we were built on will be shaken.  So when you build your foundation on the rock, then you have solid footing and are able to face any circumstance that comes your way, but if your foundation gets tares along with the wheat, then only God can weed them out.

What is the foundation for the Christian faith?  Faith in Jesus.  This Faith is based on love.  Jesus said, “Be therefore perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect”  Some people are bombarded with that statement.  How can I be made perfect?  How can I be like the Heavenly Father, who is so perfect and holy and people cannot stand to be in His Presence.  He is very holy, and how can we stand to be in His Presence?  Well the word there ‘perfect’ is from the word ‘teleios’ which is present tense. There is also the word ‘perfected’ which in the past tense is ‘perfected’.  For the sake of clarification  I’m going to bring out the verses backward.

1 John 4:20-21

Obedience by Faith

²⁰ If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? ²¹ And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

It says here, brother, which means brother or sister in Christ.  I honestly believe that if you truly love God and possess the Holy Spirit you cannot hate your brother, or else you’ll end up feeling really bad.  You may not like what they do at all.  You may not understand why they do what they do.  You may see all the little things that they do, but you wouldn’t want to see harm in them.  You may want to set boundaries and space yourself away from them, but if they are in Christ and you are in Christ, you should make every effort to treat them the right way as to not dig yourself in to a bigger ditch and find yourself where it is even harder for you to be in that place with God.   This is how to put faith into action, and this is what is meant by James, ‘faith without works’ is dead.

1 John 4:17-20

The Consummation of Love

¹⁷ Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. ¹⁹ We love Him because He first loved us.

Take a close look at vs. 17 where it says because as He is- that means as the Father as, so are we in this world.  When we go to God we should not be afraid, because when we are afraid then we are tormented.  The way that our love has been made perfect is that we may have boldness in the day of judgment.   If you love your father and you know you have done something wrong you should be able to come to him and tell him I’m sorry for what I did, and not be afraid that he is going to hit you because of it.  There is no fear in love because fear involves torment.  So what about Philippians 2:12 ‘work out your salvation with fear and trembling”?  When cross-referenced with 2 Corinthians 7:15, which says “¹⁵ And his affections are greater for you as he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received him” a good Bible interpreter asks, “How can someone be afraid and trembling and receive them?”  So that means that it implies “excitement and respect”.  When you go to meet with God, there is a boldness knowing that you don’t have to be afraid.  In fact in this world if you’re a Christian there’s nothing to be afraid of, but we of course have fears and sometimes they are there for our protection, but according to these verses, you don’t have to be afraid of God’s judgment because that kind of fear brings torment, and not closeness with God.

Seeing God Through Love

¹² No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. ¹³ By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.¹⁵ Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶ And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

So now that we know that we can enter in boldly to Throne of Grace, without fear of judgment, and if we with our hearts love our brothers and sisters in Christ, and also showing love for the lost, then His love has been perfected in us.  So then we can abide in God and God can abide in us.  The enemy will try everything from negative thoughts, to toxic emotions, dead and dry seasons, condemnation and guilt or anything at all to take us away from realizing that God loves us as verse 19 says.

Knowing God Through Love

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸ He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹ In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to bethe propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

I’m going to express here again that this love is Agape, and it is the unconditional, self-sacrificing love which you can only get through Jesus Christ as it says in vs. 9.  It is not the kind of love between a boyfriend and girlfriend. Loving one another is the hardest thing to do.  Sometimes it flows so naturally out of us, and the other times it is so difficult. Forgiveness is the key to love.  Keeping this in the foremost of our heart that we need to love another and forgive them is essential.  You may not like what the person does, but don’t hate the person, or want to get back at the person.  Even if they are so wrong, the best thing you can do is pray for them.  Try to see the good in the person.  Try to see the best thing about the person you can find.

I want to say something to preachers, pastors, leaders, and teachers – You reap what you sow.  If you sow good seed, you’ll reap a good harvest, but if you sow bad seed, even the harvest that you have will dwindle away.  Bring words that build life and edify and build up the people.  Of course there are those that are called to rebuke, but there is a serious warning mentioned by Jesus:

LUKE 17:

Causing Others to Lose Faith—Matthew 18:6–10; Mark 9:42–50

¹Jesus told his disciples, “Situations or (offense) that cause people to lose their faith are certain to arise. But how horrible it will be for the person who causes someone to lose his faith! ²It would be best for that person to be thrown into the sea with a large stone hung around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to lose his faith. ³So watch yourselves!

“If a believer sins, correct him. If he changes the way he thinks and acts, forgive him. ⁴Even if he wrongs you seven times in one day and comes back to you seven times and says that he is sorry, forgive him.”

In NASB it says:

¹ He said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come! ² It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble. ³ Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. ⁴ And if he sins against youseven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

If I have caused anyone to stumble in their faith, or been a stumbling block to anyone’s walk of faith, it was never my intention and I sincerely apologize.  I’m trying to still weed out the Truth from Lies and in my zeal for spreading the Gospel, I may abuse my position in order to get my insights out.  If I have brought guilt or condemnation to a new believer in Christ, then I sincerely apologize.  I myself am experiencing growing pains, getting out of the early years of a believer to going into the next stage, where everything shakes….but we need to hold on to the promises of God and for that we need to know what God says.

Please forgive me Matt Redman for posting your song lyrics here, but I am constantly reminded of this song at times when I think about Perfect Love Casts Out Fear –

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
Your perfect love is casting out fear
And even when I’m caught in the middle of the storms of this life
I won’t turn back
I know you are near

And I will fear no evil
For my God is with me
And if my God is with me
Whom then shall I fear?
Whom then shall I fear?

(Chorus:)
Oh no, You never let go
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, You never let go
Lord, You never let go of me

And I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
A glorious light beyond all compare
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
We’ll live to know You here on the earth

Yes, I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
Still I will praise You, still I will praise You

Christian lyrics – YOU NEVER LET GO LYRICS – MATT REDMAN 

http://www.christian-lyrics.net/matt-redman/you-never-let-go-lyrics.html#axzz1rV4uyvMr

Dangers of Pride

Before you look at someone else and say, “Hey, they have pride,”  or you look at the people of the Bible and their destruction because of their pride, take some time to examine your own heart, and see if there is any pride in your own heart.

There are many factors that lead to pride, one of them is selfishness, and another is judgmental, critical nature.

I’ll start with the judgmental, critical nature.  The judgmental and critical nature starts with insecurity. We don’t like how we feel about ourselves because we don’t see what God sees in His eyes when He looks at us.  We see the icky lies that the enemy has been provoking us to believe about ourselves, but then we start to believe them after they have been repeated over and over and over again in our heads like a record player.  When you begin  the Christian walk you are supposed to build yourself up in the faith by a church that supports the growth that you have by feeding you with the Word of God, and you also have to begin to build a relationship with God yourself.  But somewhere down the line, we begin to think, ok, “I know it all”  and we begin to judge people for the things we don’t like about our old selves.  Someone once said that godly men may try to have a conversation with an evil man and they will have nothing to talk about because [my interjection here] – they have no common language.  At some point all of us begin to become judgmental and critical in nature, and it takes a real life transforming experience with Jesus, and the Word of God, to change us.  When we think we have reached a certain of level of “maturity” and of “holiness”, then we will be knocked down a few blocks because we know that we really don’t know it all, but it is God who warns of this pride.  That’s why He says in Isaiah, “My thoughts are higher than your thoughts, and My ways higher than your ways.”

This pride of lucifer was shown in Isaiah 14 –

For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’

So it is very dangerous to get like that.  So before you go and think that “lucifer had pride, but I don’t have pride” that may be prideful itself because a humble person will never admit that they are humble.  There’s a difference between knowing who you are [in Christ], and speaking that with boldness like Jesus did, and showing false humility, which I am not going to go into because I don’t think I can even wrap my mind around that one. But basically we don’t know it all, and only God does.  We can learn from all of the anointed teachers of God’s Word,if they are truly sticking to God’s Word, but if they are not then we should look at ourselves, and say, “have I led anyone astray?  Have I led them down the wrong path?  Have I made them feel condemned?”  “Those that judge others, in the same measure you will be judged” Jesus says, and He also says, “Why do you look at the speck in the other person’s eye and do not see the plank in your own eye, first remove the plank in your own eye then you will clearly be able to see the speck in the other person’s eye.”

Let’s pause there for a second…Ask yourself, which areas am I struggling with the most in my relationships with people?  What don’t I like about people?  For me I don’t like it when people teach unbiblical doctrine, or doctrine that is opposed to what I have been taught, and when people condemn others with the Word of God, and so I need to say, Lord, where do You want me to change in this area?

Also another thing that you should do is ask Lord, if I am not acting out of Agape Love, then help me, teach me, show me the way.  In this sense I am using the term unconditional.  Are you still going to love the person despite what they do no matter how much they offend you?  That is something to think about.   IF YOU’RE NOT THERE YET IT’S OK – DON’T BEAT YOURSELF UP ABOUT IT.  One of the things that needs to be discussed is the difference between loving yourself, selfishness, and pride.

Loving yourself, means loving the person that God created you to be in the image of God, with the spirit of God dwelling inside of you.

Selfishness is a fleshly – and when I say fleshly I don’t mean body, but the sinful nature of man – attitude which feeds on which sinful nature of man in the oldself,  and obsesses about how to meet your own needs to the point that you don’t think about or care about or live for others, but it’s all about you, and what you want, and what you need.  We all have certain areas of life where we are a little bit selfish because we still are tempted to sin, but the more we line up with the Holy Spirit, the more we will not be able to, and the GOOD NEWS IS GOD FORGIVES US IF WE DO ACT SELFISHLY BECAUSE HE KNOWS THAT’S NOT THE NATURE HE PUT IN US. (The ones who are sincere born again believers)

Pride is exalting yourself above God, and saying that you are better than God and that you know better than God and that you can control your life better than He can and it also has to do with thinking that you are better than anyone else.

A judgmental nature and pride is detestable to God.  If we don’t want to see judgment in the last days, then don’t judge.  If we don’t want see ourselves crumble and eat grass like Nebuchadnezzar did in the last days then submit and surrender to God.

Sometimes we have issues of receiving forgiveness and forgiving and that is rooted in insecurity about ourselves.  We can’t see the good in others because we can’t see it in ourselves.  We may love God, but unless we truly see that God loves us and created usin His image and when we received Christ, we took on the nature and characteristics of Christ [righteousness, holiness, perfectness] then we have a flawed perspective and that perspective needs to be dealt with.  You can learn all this in head knowledge and you can read the Bible all you want that true heart transformation then you will have to put on the right lens of perspective.  There are teachers that can give you a proper lens and perspective that can help you see the Light of Christ and what it means by True Christ Like Love, and then there are others who will always look down on people who are less than they are and deem them, “not worthy” of our attention.

It’s very hard these days to see Christians who behave like Paul did, who was not carnal at all, but also treated people with love, respect and care for the sheep and rich in the wisdom in the grace of God, but then there is Jesus who is our perfect example, our perfect witness of the Holy Spirit.  One of my favorite verses in the Bible talks about how Paul in his person may seem weak and limited because of physical infirmities, but in his writing he is bold.  Many times that’s the way I feel.  In person you may not be able to see the same thing that you see in my writing.

How do we rectify this problem?  We put our focus on the Lord, and move in whichever way the Lord leads us.  The Lord moves us in mighty ways, but we don’t need to feel guilty about anything that we do because the Lord loves us tremendously and He is just waiting for us to come to Him with our problems.  We need to run to Him.  Remember He knows us better than we know ourselves.