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Michael Clark and I wrote this blog post together, once again. As it has often been the case, I, Susanne, start with writing and share my thoughts on a certain topic with Michael and then God gives us a confirmation about writing another joint article.

Can you force yourself to seemingly like what you basically do not like? What a strange question, Susanne! I need to admit that I can’t do it any longer although I tried. My heart won’t let me deceive myself anymore. Even if I like or love someone, I cannot like nor love what they do when their twisted thinking and doing contradicts the truth revealed in Christ. Not that I stop loving them, but my heart is grieved, often very deeply grieved. That hurts a lot indeed!  😦 In the past, I tried to do the impossible, that is, to encourage someone despite their wrong thinking and doing, simply because I liked these people. Well, God showed me how hypocritical that behavior was and how much I put myself in a state of bondage of the wrong spirits through that seemingly “kind” behavior. No, Susanne, that was not kind, it was only “nice.”

Can we accept everyone? Yes, of course, we can, as long as we do not get into closer contact, we will have no problems here. I was just thinking about that specific sort of grief I often feel in my own spirit and I was reminded of the following Scripture that describes the very nature of God’s love (agape).

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It [love] does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it [love] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. (1 Cor 13:4-7 ESV) – [Emphasis in italics added]

I cannot rejoice at wrongdoing or when I sense the wrong spirits working in and through my neighbors. And I would be the last one to tell them that they should do it my way. Instead, my heart begins to cry out silently to God to reveal the truth to those who already think they know all about it. As Christians we believe that The Truth is a person. However, as long we do not personally know Him, but only read or hear about Jesus Christ (through Scripture or through what others write and tell us), we can be very easily be deceived. Really!! Michael Clark shared an observation with me today that truly hit me. Referring particularly to 1 Corinthians 8:6, John 1: 1-4 and Colossians 1:16-17, Michael said,

“So just as all creation did not come from nothing, but out from God Himself…So must all words and thoughts come out from THE WORD (the Spirit of Christ) or they are false.”

YES! That is why the one who loves The Truth can only love the words that came from Him who is The Truth. All other words which come from Satan (who was a liar and murderer from the beginning), although some of them might sound beautiful upon the first impression, will grieve the heart of someone who knows how God speaks, do you see? Wouldn’t you recognize your spouse’s voice if you had to compare it with, let’s say, ten or twenty others, on the phone? The more often we spend time with someone we love, the easier it is to find out what the other one might think or say and when we hear their voice our hearts rejoice! If someone accuses our spouses of having said this or that, we know the truth because we know them, particularly when we have known one another for decades.

Well, if we want to bear fruit (God’s fruit!), we need to listen to His small and gentle voice rather than listening to those louder ones (remember Elijah in that cave on Sinai?) so that we can discern the spirits we hear, read or see in action. Discerning the spirits is a divine gift, for sure, but it must be exercised. Without keeping in touch with God, confusion and deception easily arise even for the most gifted person. Please, take care, brothers and sisters! Michael made it very clear to me when he explained that “ALL THINGS eternal and godly that come out from Him must also return to Him with the desired effect. So when we hear or read those things that did not originate with our Father, it troubles our spirits for His voice brings us peace not confusion.” Or to put it biblically,

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Is 55:10-11 ESV)

The fleshly souls of men often speak, but in their fallen state they have become instruments of Satan and his desires and the worst cases of these are soulish men and women who presume to speak for our heavenly Father (See John 6:63 and 8:43-45). Consequently, all those words and deeds that did not spring from God came from Satan and are therefore worthless, even detrimental regarding divine matters and eternity. Is that too hard a word for us to take?