A POSSIBLE YOU
FINDING GOD’S DESTINY FOR YOUR LIFE
PART 11
BETRAYING OUR CONSCIENCE

“Abstain from evil (shrink from it and keep aloof from it) in whatever form or whatever kind it may be. And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through (separate you from profane things, make you pure and wholly consecrated to God); and may your spirit, soul and body be preserved sound and complete (and found) blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (The Messiah). Faithful is He who is CALLING you (to Himself) and utterly trustworthy, and He will also do it (fulfill His call by hallowing and keeping you).” (I Thessalonians 5:22-24 AMP)

A possible you, is someone that has a vision of living a holy life and who desires to become what they believe. It is the transforming “you” that runs swiftly and jumps higher in God’s Spirit because you are not weighted down with carnality. A possible you is the child of God that has cleaned, ironed and prepared their wedding gown by purifying their heart and has let go of everything that can distract them from their groom, King Jesus. “There is something in the universe which is the very opposite of God; it is the self. The activity of the self is the source of all the evil nature as well as all the evil deeds of man. The loss of the selfhood in the soul increases the purity of the soul! In fact, the soul’s purity is increased in proportion to the loss of self.” (Jeanne Guyon – Experiencing the depths of Jesus Christ) This writer is saying that we must decrease our carnality in order to gain more of God’s Spirit. When we try to push Him away in order to make room for our idols, He can take a hint that He is not our highest priority. When we entertain sin, we intentionally choose the temporal over the eternal and “willfully” offend Him. This possible you (hopefully) is beginning to see a glimpse of what it means to abandon our old nature so that God can do the “impossible” within our spirit!

It is exciting to walk with God! When we finally decide that we will follow Him “all the way” there is a peace and joy that floods our soul that cannot be compared. The concept that Jesus used in Mathew 18: 3-4, when He referred to being like a little child was living with an “innocent conscience”. A small child has not yet been infected with the filth and dark influences of the imagination. They walk in love and trust and the happiness that comes from a pure heart and mind. “And He said, verily I say unto you, except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Mathew 18:3-4) To receive Christ as our Lord and have a personal, intimate relationship with Him is all about keeping our heart clean and holy before Him. Staying “prayed up” with confessing and repenting of our sin produces a spiritual freedom and a joyful state of mind that reminds me of like when we were kids riding our bicycle down the road on a sunny day without a care in the world. Before I go any further with these mental images of cozy, “feel good” emotional stories, allow me to include that unfortunately when we grow up (as you well know), life is not always filled that aura of bliss. I am not trying to be a party crasher but only being honest about the harsh reality in which we live. It is wonderful to live the abundant life, holding hands with Jesus while singing Amazing Grace, however we must also remember the enemy has his spies that continually observe us and through their binoculars they report how we are living, our spiritual development, and how close we are becoming with God. It would be foolish for us to disregard the validity of the devils devices and to not believe that he sets traps and launches ambush attacks against God’s front-line warriors. It is vital that we realize how much of our internal torment comes from being offended and to be one step ahead in trying to prevent it from happening. If our “soft spot” is being susceptible to having hurt feelings, we can be sure our “feelings” are going to be a main target. Remember when we research the word offense, we find the idea of a snare trap that has been set to CAPTURE the one who is unaware. Selah. Satan has many different tactics and strategies he can use against us but he has learned over the millenniums that he has a higher rate of success when capitalizing on our weaknesses and this includes harassing, accusing and instigating.

There are several things going on in my life right now and I feel that I am trying to juggle my emotions while desiring to make good decisions. I have been stressed and concerned about my future, ministry direction; my dad’s failing health, finances, retirement, job interviews, and just an overall sense of pressure. I have been asking God to implement these new teachings about my lack of sensitivity (like taking care of my body) into MY life and I can honestly say I do feel a deep change within me physically, mentally and spiritually with much more change needed. However, this has also put me on the “radar” with the enemy as a person of interest and may I say that if you have taken a step toward God lately you are in the same boat with me. We hear about those who have a target on them, and I believe there is truth to this. I was alone at home the other day and spent the afternoon typing new music, chording songs and practicing with the guitar. It had been a great day with the Lord and I even enjoyed going outside to shovel snow. I started a wonderful meal so that I could have it ready when Cheryl came home from work and was just putting it on the table when she stepped in. Without going into the details of our “conversation” all I will say is that it did not take 2 minutes until I became so upset with something she said that I completely lost focus of what was happening. She made a comment that hit me wrong and instead of recognizing how my carnal mind was reacting – I allowed my “feelings” to take over. The pleasant atmosphere was disappearing fast but I would not stop, in fact I increased my intensity until I ruined the entire situation. So, there I sat with a beautiful meal wasted and the rest of the evening filled with hurt feelings, sadness and regret. Oh sure I recognized what happened but it was AFTER the damage was done. I am NOT blaming this on the devil but only trying to say that he despises us and if he can “bait us” us into following our carnality – he will! Satan hates to see God’s people live a life of enjoyment and to be saturated with God’s goodness. He abhors seeing God’s children especially husbands and wives that love each other in Christ to have a happy and blessed marriage. He hates to see a sincere church follow God’s vision, unite together and focus their passion on fulfilling the Lord’s great commission. The devil does not want us to develop agape love or to freely give to anyone or anything connected with obeying God’s voice. He does not want us to have a ministry that is focused, empowered and anointed by God to do The Lord’s work that will bring glory to the Name of Jesus Christ. Of course Satan is trying to stop all of this just as hard as he can because he wants to destroy, steal, kill, deceive, discourage and ruin anyone that has anything to do with The Father. It is crucial when we are walking with God and trying to follow His ways, to be aware of our weaknesses and the times when we are vulnerable to manifesting and embracing the attributes of our old nature. Just because we are saved and filled with God’s Spirit does not mean we are untouchable or not susceptible to being tempted. Our free-will always presents the choice to demonstrate the character of Christ or to unleash the beast that roams just outside the fence of our heart. We just need to face the reality that within the fence that is trying to keep our carnal nature “out” of our decision making process, if we look carefully we will see a gate and that means we can allow our old nature to come in whenever we choose to open it.

I have always appreciated the late David Wilkerson and his teachings. I received this other day and want to close with his comments about secret willful sin. “Most Christians are relieved to know they are not included in Paul’s list of damning offenses: “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). Many sincere believers make every effort not to turn His grace into a “license” and yet they realize their walk doesn’t measure up to His holy standard. As they read verse 11, they feel the piercing arrow of truth: “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God”. Suddenly, they remember a besetting lust they have never been able to shake. They think, “Wait a minute—I’ve been delivered and sanctified. So why can’t I quit this habit? I’m not truly free!” Maybe you have returned to an old lust recently. Perhaps you have visited a pornography site on the Internet or become involved in adultery or homosexual sin. Or perhaps you have stolen goods from your employer, or you are sneaking a drink on the way home from work. Whatever your habit is, you know you are not free in that one area. Do not be surprised if you start to feel the way David did. “I remembered God, and was troubled . . . my spirit was overwhelmed” (Psalm 77:3). Whenever the Lord sees one of His children wrestling with some lust or bondage, He moves in quickly to bring us back to a path of obedience, peace and rest. How does He do this? He brings about conditions in our lives that FORCE us to face our sin! Often this means taking us down into the depths, as God did with Jonah. He allows us to feel His rebuke and to be swallowed up by our circumstances. Yet it was while in the darkest depths that Jonah cried out to God. And the Lord responded to His servant’s cries quickly, restoring to him His blessings and will!” Do not feel condemned dear one, but if there is conviction, praise God for His longsuffering! Conviction comes to the sinful heart that realizes they have offended the holiness of God. Selah.