Be careful who your friends are

Corinthians 15:33 (KJV)
³³ Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

Relationships are a powerful influence in a life. When a relationship is established you have been given access to the inner sanctums of a person’s heart to influence them. Because relationship is built on trust and trust opens the door of a person’s soul. They gain opportunity to steer your life in a particular direction. This is why Paul said that we should “not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.” When a believer joins together with an unbeliever in an intimate relationship, they have given that person power to influence them. It’s one thing to have a work friend and/or acquaintances but these are relationships that we do not give access to our innermost being. There is a line drawn where a relationship crosses over into intimacy and now becomes a powerful force in our lives. 

Relationships come into being because of sharing common interests. The only way an on fire Christian and a lukewarm Christian can have intimacy is if one compromises. They must meet on common ground. It has been said and it is true that you can tell what a person is by who their friends are.

Ask yourself this question today: “who am I giving access to my heart to influence me?” Be careful of who you are intimate with because they have more power in your life than what you think.  

"The Voice Within" excerpt

This is an excerpt taken out of the new book "The Voice Within"
It will be published soon - at editing now. Do remember while reading this - it is the unedited version :)

We don’t just wake up one day and the marriage is over. We don’t just wake up one day and the kids are a mess. We don’t just wake up one day and we are in deep poverty. It started somewhere! The first time we sensed something wasn’t right; what was our response? Did we ignore it or did we confront it? Ignoring it softens the voice of conscience for the next time. Reacting to it will strengthen its voice for the next time. Spiritual sensitivity is vital for our survival! Satan’s strategy is to desensitize the spiritual senses with a bombardment of imagery that after awhile, it doesn’t affect you. After awhile of ignoring the Spirit’s quickening, self is desensitizing that area so no feeling any longer exists there. If a person ignores or overrides this inner witness continually, there will come a time in their life when the capability to hear God’s voice becomes nearly impossible. Loss of Godly influence and direction of life becomes lost and the person is then left to rely only on themselves as a source of guidance. Of course, this opens them up to the influences of ungodly spirits and a life of defeat and frustration will soon be the norm. Conversely, immediate obedience maintains the health of spiritual sensitivity and even permits deeper intimacy with the Holy Spirit to take place. Make no mistake about it, the health of our spiritual lives as well as our eternal destiny is dependent on the condition of our conscience.

Don't Fake It!!

This has been said and how true it is: Politics without principle; pleasure without conscience; wealth without work; knowledge without character; worship without sacrifice... all collaborate to destroy man. And yet, how many live without these principles and truths and adamantly believe they are right.

The bible repeatedly warns about self-deception. It’s hard to grasp that at first because when you think of deception you immediately think of one person deceiving another person. However, it is possible for a person to deceive themselves. Incorrect thinking, false doctrines, pride, sin, along with a whole host of other things can cloud the true perceptive and discerning abilities of an individual. The worst part of it all is that a person who is self-deceived is unaware of the condition they are in.  

Satan is very good at impersonation as evidenced by the following Scripture.

2 Corinthians 11:13-15 (KJV)
¹³ For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
¹⁴ And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
¹⁵ Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

Concerning Cain, we get to know some hard facts by the following.

Genesis 4:3-5 (KJV)
³ And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
⁴ And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
⁵ But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

Don't be fooled! Cain worshiped, built an altar, offered a sacrifice, had an appointed time to meet God, and still was rejected by God and eventually killed his own brother. Wow! Faking a true relationship w/ Jesus is no laughing matter!!! Think about it, Cain was having church but God was not excepting anything offered by it. I wonder how much this happens today.

Here is something that has always astounded me – why didn’t any the disciples suspect Judas?

John 13:21-30 (KJV)
²¹ When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
²² Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake.
²³ Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.
²⁴ Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake.
²⁵ He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it?
²⁶ Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.
²⁷ And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly.
²⁸ Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him.
²⁹ For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor.
³⁰ He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night.

Interesting! Not one disciple suspected Judas. This man obviously went through the routine of outward appearances of religion and fooled everybody but one. Jesus knew it by the revelation provided by the Spirit. This is how important discernment is to the body of Christ. We need to know as Paul stated in the KJV of 1^st Thess. 5:12 “…to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you…”

One parting thought: not everything that glitters is gold!

Titles or Function

Ephesians 4:11 (KJV)
¹¹ And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

The five-fold ministry gifts are not titles but functions. I’m not a pastor because I have the title. I’m a pastor because I do the work of a pastor. A person is not a singer because of a title but because they sing.

Doing the work of the ministry will accomplish more than mere peddling of titles! 

Notice what Paul said in the following:

 2 Corinthians 12:12 (KJV)
¹² Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.

It is the same with the title of "Christian." My deeds will place the title of Christian over my life and not the other way around. There is no doubt that we can become imbalanced and over emphasize faith and no works. We can overemphasize works and no faith and each idea will lead to error. However, faith in Christ will produce works to substantiate our claims of a new life. I should not have to tell others I am a Christian - my works/deeds should leave no doubt who and what I am!   

Works and deeds do not save us but they are the proof we are saved.