| Daily Thought — April
15, 2008 |
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| LIVING THE
SOLUTION WITH DAILY INSPIRATION |
The Spirit
clearly says that in later times some will abandon
the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught
by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical
liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a
hot iron. (1 Timothy 4:1-3 — NIV)
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test
the spirits to see whether they are from God, because
many false prophets have gone out into the world. This
is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit
that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the
flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge
Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist,
which you have heard is coming and even now is already
in the world. (1 John 4:1-3 — NIV)
Beware of deceiving spirits:
In addition to self deception, false prophets and teachers
we are warned to be on our guard against deceiving spirits.
Now I know the idea of talking about deceiving spirits,
or spirits in general, may be a bit foreign to some of
you, but therein lies the problem. We don’t really
understand the nature of the spiritual world, even the
good, much less the bad. But this world is influenced greatly
by God, the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God in His people.
It is also influenced by evil ones. In fact, that is one
of the deceptions, that there are no such things as evil
spirits. If we can be convinced to believe that then the
enemy has us for we are not on guard, looking for his other
lies and deceits.
So how do recognize when what we are hearing is from God
or not? Some look to see if it is based in scripture. OK,
but remember Satan quoted scripture to Jesus when he was
trying to get Jesus to abandon His mission to rescue us
(Luke 4:9-11). The unfortunate truth is our enemy knows
the Bible better than the vast majority of believers. The
only way to test the message is this. Does it point others/you/us
to God? Does it give all glory and honor to God? Does it
build Him up and build us up by directing us towards God
and encourage us into a deeper commitment and selfless
relationship with God? If the message you are hearing does
not do this then it is not of God.
Live intentionally, purposely, free and with passion,
Pete Reinbold
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Scripture taken from the
Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.Copyright © 1973,
1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights
reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of
International Bible Society.
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks
of International Bible Society. Use of either trademark for the
offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent
of International Bible Society.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible,
New Living Translation, copyright ©1996. Used by permission
of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189, USA. All
rights reserved. |
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