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deception, delusion, experience, faith, following Jesus, listening, Michael Clark, mind, peace, Satan, sin, true faith

Walking with God…
(Photo credit https://revlisad.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/walking-with-god.jpg)
This is another joint article Michael Clark and I wrote together.
Jesus was without sin because He only did what He saw His Father doing and He only spoke His words. This is why Paul could say that nothing of itself is sin, but only that which is done without faith… which is not doing what our Daddy in Heaven shows us to do and say. Faith is not law keeping. Faith is obeying the Spirit and the wind of the Spirit blows where no man expects it to. We must be free to follow the leading of the Spirit if we are to walk by faith. This is why Peter was sinning when he refused to eat with Gentiles, though the law forbade him to do so, but the Spirit of the NEW covenant often surpasses the law. The apostle Paul told us the following,
“I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean.” (Rom 14:14 ESV)
“To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.” (Titus 1:15 ESV)
So, we see in the New Testament that nothing of itself is unclean. We need to only follow the leading of the Spirit in ALL things we do and say. But herein lies the danger as well… If we are not walking in faith and are not in tune with the Spirit, we can fall into delusions for our adversary is good at getting us to believe a lie. It is not by law keeping that we are made safe, but rather by living by EVERY word that proceeds from the mouth of God and not living by our fleshly desires and the lies of the serpent. Remember that the devil used scripture to tempt Jesus to sin!
We also know that if we are acting out of unselfish love in whatever we do, we are fulfilling the O.T. law AND the law of Christ.
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Galatians 5:14, KJ2000)
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:3-4, KJ2000)
But how do we know if we just now are walking by faith – or not? The Bible tells us,
“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” (Is 26:3 ESV)
We can be sure if we are enwrapped in His peace right now, we are in His will, we are walking by faith and there is no sin so that there would be an open door for Satan to make us fear, worry, or a possibility to deceive or delude us. This was summed up in what Paul wrote to the Philippians…
Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (Philippians 4:4-8, KJ2000)
So, back to our question, “How do we define sin?” Paul wrote “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23, KJ2000) Any time we are falling short of the glory of God we are in sin… That is any time our lives and our words are not glorifying God and His will for us, we are sinning. We are called to walk as Jesus walked on this earth in total obedience to the Father with lives that glorify Him. “Father, continue to mature us in your Spirit so that we might live lives that only glorify you. Amen.”
The was a great experience to flow in the Spirit with Susanne on this article. He provided the theme and the content as we prayed together and listened to His voice. Truly, “Wherever two or three of you are gathered together in my name I am there in your midst.” Thank you Jesus for being here among us as we seek your face together. Amen.”
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Yes, it was a great experience, dear Michael. Having had blank minds before, God filled them after prayer. It was a joy to write with you, my brother. Thank you! 🙂
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For sure, Susanne. My mind was totally blank of anything from the Lord to write in a blog for three weeks. This was truly refreshing to have this time in the Spirit with you. Thank YOU! 🐻
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You’re very welcome, my brother!
I am glad to hear that God’s Spirit wind was a refreshing experience for you! 🙂
Your sister in Him,
Susanne 🐱
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Pingback: How do we define SIN? « A Wilderness Voice
Thank you very much for the reblog on A Wilderness Voice, Michael! 🙂
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Well said. I’m not sure what part I liked the best, but this is good, “Faith is obeying the Spirit and the wind of the Spirit blows where no man expects it to.” Amen!
This too, “If we are not walking in faith and are not in tune with the Spirit” My sheep know My voice, so the more familiar we become with His voice, the easier it becomes to know what is from God and what is not.
A few times God has clearly told me to do something and I have rather foolishly tried to argue scripture with Him. Well, actually it’s somewhat amusing, because obviously I did not win the argument, but it really drove home some of the inherent problems within too much legalism.
Christ Himself healed someone on the sabbath and the disciples picked some grain from a field, stealing food on the sabbath, basically. We tend to assign hierarchies to sin, so stealing is very bad, telling a white lie, not a big deal. To make matters more complicated, we are all different and our circumstances are different. What God grants mercy to some to do, he may not allow others to do. For me to steal a loaf of bread is different from someone stealing because they are hungry and so forth.
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Thank you, Gabrielle.
I like the examples you took from Scripture regarding what God sees as sin and what not. It really seems as if He allows to some which He does not allow to others. All has to do with faith. So, everything we do without being completely convinced to be led by God causes a bad conscience although it might not be considered as sin in the eyes of God. Pheeeew!!! Without being connected to Him 24/7 we will go wrong again and again, I presume.
As for the quotes you took from our article, I guess Michael will reply to you too since these sentences were written by him (I liked them too, very much 🙂 ).
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Gabrielle, I love your story about arguing with God about scripture. Paul said that the letter of the law kills, but the Spirit gives life. We can follow the letter of the Bible by leaning on our own understanding and be in total sin. Consider the words of Solomon in this light,
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.” (Proverbs 3:5-7, KJ2000)
The Jewish leaders were following the letter of the law when they killed the Righteous Messiah that was sent to them! Their high priest even quoted scripture to justify killing Him! Without the leading of the Spirit we are of our father the devil and we will do his works just at they did. The flesh can not do the works of God! A total surrender to God must happen and His leading us and even His chastisement to get us to follow His voice will follow. Most of us come to Him as little spoiled brats that pitch a fit as soon as He asks us to do something against our wills or argue with Him when His will goes crossways to ours.
Yes, He must really think it strange when we throw the words of the Bible back in his face as a covering for our sin. I call this “fig-leaf religion” where we sew together our list of scriptures and put them on to cover our nakedness, all the while Father is calling to us, “Where are you, Adam?” Living by every word that PROCEEDS from the mouth of our Father — not by words according to our own desires that proceeded from His mouth in the past (the exact way that Satan tempted Jesus) — THIS is what our Father and Jesus are looking for. It is truly sad how few Christians do not know HIS voice, but rather follow the voices of strangers, thieves and robbers in their churches who often quote the letter of the Bible to mislead them.
God bless you, dear sister, as you follow HIS voice,
Michael
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Wow!!! Excellent Spirit-inspired comment, Michael! Am speechless… ⭐
Susanne
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Thank you for the article. The understanding that you have for the definition of sin is the understanding that I have. When ever I am considering my many comings short of the glory of God, my flesh says, “put new rules on yourself”. But My spirit says that has never brought the glory of God. I am convinced that continual fellowship with the Holy Spirit is our provision for not sinning, and for not missing His glory.
Again, thank you, Susanne and Michael. Your words are conviction and joy.
Love in Him,
Pat Orr
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You’re very welcome, dear Pat!
I am happy to hear from you again and I hope you are doing well. Also, I rejoice in the fact that we have the same understanding of sin. I too am inclined to put rules on myself since they seem to give a sort of security at first. But woe to me if I cannot fulfill my own rules. Argh! NO peace then, only self-accusation. 😛
You wrote, “My spirit says that has never brought the glory of God. I am convinced that continual fellowship with the Holy Spirit is our provision for not sinning, and for not missing His glory.”
Amen to that, dear sister! Same here; we are of one spirit. You may know as Michael and I write, our words are conviction and joy for us as well.
Love in HIM,
Susanne ❤
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Pat, you truly bless me!!! I am so glad that you see that following a list of rules does not bring us peace because the flesh cannot please God. Only yielding to the leading of His Spirit from a heart filled with love or Him pleases Him.
God bless you, dear sister!
Michael
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This is such a good point from Susanne and Pat, “I too am inclined to put rules on myself since they seem to give a sort of security at first. But woe to me if I cannot fulfill my own rules. Argh!”
Whenever we’re trying to give something up, one of the worst things we can do is to try to will power it away. Our “will” be done, not His. If we instead surrender our own will and make room for His spirit to fill us, often our lives become so full of good things, we forget all about the temptation we were trying to resist on our own.
God taught us this long ago, but psychology is starting to catch on now, too. When we’re busy trying to resist the bad things rather than busy trying to embrace the good things, we’re often doomed to fail, because as Susanne said, we cannot even manage to follow our own rules. His yoke however, is easy and His burden is light.
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Yes, His yoke, that is obeying Him is easy, Gabrielle. But our own self-made yoke – argh again! 😉 Either Spirit power or self will power, there is nothing in between. But surrendering is not always easy, is it, Gabrielle?
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The ever moving thin line of religion vs relationship. Worshiping the Father in spirit and truth is a lifestyle of giving Him glory in all things. What was righteous yesterday will be sin tomorrow if we don’t settle into dependence on Him in all things. All your heart! All your soul! All your mind! Thank you for being attentive to Him. Blessings, Strength, Clarity flood you both through the Blood of Yeshua for you are marked by His Blood, giving His Spirit the right to minister to you.
Robert
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You are so welcome, Robert. That was a wonderful comment by you. ⭐ Thank you very much for your Spirit-led and encouraging words! ⭐ I love what you wrote here:
Your wishes for Michael and me really touched my heart since I felt HIS voice in them. Thank you again! 🙂
Every divine blessing to you!
Susanne
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Thank you Robert for your great comment. I also loved that quote from you. “What was righteous yesterday will be sin tomorrow if we don’t settle into dependence on Him in all things. All your heart! All your soul! All your mind!” Sooooo true!
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Pingback: How Dose God Define Sin? « A Wilderness Voice
Yes, moving from religion to intimate relationship with God and his Lamb, and worshiping God as Spirit in spirit and truth is the answer now and is to come! We can’t patch the old with the new; we have to put the new wine in completely new wineskins. All who remain living under the spirit of the world (fallen spirits), who remain under the curse of sin and death, denying the finished work of Christ, partaking of the spirit of antichrist, fall short of the glory of God in this life because they are blocking, obstructing, have barriers to, or are missing the Holy Spirit and fire of God baptism of Jesus that consumes all that is not of Christ and fills us, transforms us and forms Christ in us. We cannot do anything apart from the Spirit of God above, in and through us! We can do nothing of our own authority, but are led by the Lamb to the springs of living water so we can heal, transform, and conform to the Son! The sons of God are those led by the Spirit not external laws; the epistle is written on our heart and out of the abundance of the Word written and manifested in our heart do we speak words that carry the power, wisdom, sound vibration, and frequency of light of the Holy Spirit to give the words containing spirit and life to uplift, heal, deliver and set free! To God be the glory now and forever and ever Amen! Hallelujah!! We are more than conquerors in Christ, Christ in us!!!! Thank you for your collaboration Susanne and Michael! God bless you and all your readers! ~Yvonne
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Thank you very much, Yvonne. I like particularly this part of your response. You wrote,
“We cannot do anything apart from the Spirit of God above, in and through us! We can do nothing of our own authority, but are led by the Lamb to the springs of living water so we can heal, transform, and conform to the Son! The sons of God are those led by the Spirit not external laws; the epistle is written on our heart…”
Very good! ⭐
Susanne
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Thank you for posting! A quick note, verse is from Isaiah 26:3, not Jeremiah 26:3.
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Oopsie! 🙄 You are right, Jennifer!! Thank you very much for letting me know.
You are a great proof reader! ⭐ Will fix it ASAP…… DONE! 🙂
Every blessing,
Susanne
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Truth be told, I found the verse in Isaiah because Father was slowing me down to study it further…could not find reference for “mind” from verse in Jeremiah, so just scanned references for 26:3, and there it was in Isaiah…lol…Father is so good to us, Manna indeed!
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XD
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Thanks, Jennifer! We all need one another, for sure.
Michael
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the last sentence is the clincher–we need to pray for each other so that Gods Spirit teaches us unto maturity for His glory
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Amen, Kenneth. Well said!
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