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accusations, adultery, condemnation, deception, discerning the spirits, divorce, doubts, exhortation, experience, faith, false guilt, following Jesus, God's voice, peace, prayer, Satan, sin, the new self, the old self, thought life, Zarah Leander
Maybe, you are familiar with what has been going on in me lately. Imagine, after careful consideration aka prayer, you finally do something of which you are convinced that it must be God’s will for your life. I am not thinking of big things here, only of some small obedience of ours. As long as you are indecisive, you might feel weak, even confused. But as soon as you decide to give in to God’s tender ‘nudgings’, you sense some supernatural strength coming back to you. As you follow His leading and do what was needed, eventually, His peace surrounds you to show you His pleasure. How wonderful an experience! 😊 But then…
Sooner or later, doubts and fears arise as you are being tempted to abandon yourself to mental re-runs of what has been happening. What if it was not God, but only your flesh that made you do THIS? You may think that way because all positive feelings and strength are gone now. What will be the consequences of your (humanly speaking, ‘unkind’) behavior? Does following Jesus really mean to appear to be ‘mean’ at times, not rather always meek and lowly in heart? 🙄
Dear reader, I am speaking of drawing lines here, lines toward people who, unawares or not, suck all energy out of you if you only let them. Whether it is a stranger, a friend, or a relative, just recently I found myself pretty often in such situations where I, who had felt God’s peace before, sensed anger welling up inside me as I kept listening/doing what others wanted me to hear or to do. More and more it began to dawn on me that this particular anger was a sign from God to listen TO HIM immediately, instead. Day after day He brought me into similar situations so that I could practice what He wanted me to do. In fact, it was NOT easy! But meanwhile I see that the earlier I follow His promptings, the easier it gets! If I, however, start to ponder on the consequences of my behavior (read the offense) it must assuredly mean to the other person, then I feel accused. And this accusation feels REAL! As if I was judged and condemned of never doing the right thing. Well, I might often fail, but sometimes I sense that it worked out well as the simplicity of God’s language confirms.
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen 2:15-17 ESV)
To my ears, this seems to be a clear commandment, easy to understand. But as we know, not so easy to follow and to obey.
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,
3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. (Gen 3:1-7 ESV)
Interesting development…
At first Satan questions God, or at least, man’s memory regarding the commandment God has given him. This is always the point where we decide to quickly run back to God and ask for His help or, which might happen more often, where we open the door to poisonous thoughts that will attack and weaken our faith and trust in God. When we are already weakened, and more and more doubts have been raised, the devil begins to lie. Indeed, he mixes the truth (“Your eyes will be opened”) with a lie (“You will surely not die”), a proposal of sorts which is VERY confusing to the natural mind. Alas, if we do not stop here and then run back into God’s arms, the next step is deception and delusion since the woman now was convinced that what God had forbidden “was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”
Oh well, that reminds me of an old German song by Swedish singer Zarah Leander “Can love be a sin?” (“Kann denn Liebe Sünde sein?”, 1938) When Satan has eventually drawn us away from the Living God, we can even ‘enjoy’ some good feelings in our soul and body as our flesh has been titillated by worldly desires, by the desires of the eyes, and by the pride of life (see 1 Jn 2:16). For instance, have you ever met someone who would be a faithful believer (even a regular churchgoer) who on the outside seemed to be a good Christian, who out of the blue fell in love with someone who was not their spouse, and then they claimed that it was God who wanted them to divorce their spouse?? Why? Because it felt so good! 😦 Big deception, indeed. The god of this world is always mighty when he is allowed to rule our old nature, isn’t he…?
I do not know how I got side-tracked from listening to God’s vs. Satan’s voice regarding tiny everyday decisions to falling into temptation and being fully blinded by Satan… 🙄 But perhaps it makes some sense to someone who reads this.
Michael said:
Susanne, thanks for sharing this.
I think that one way we fall to the temptations of the devil “hath God said…?” Is that he twists the words of God. For instance we might have heard the Spirit say, don’t enter into gossip with anyone. So we go along in our daily lives and we encounter an old friend or relative and they start gossiping and we think, I don’t want to be rude and “un-Christian-like,” I want to be nice! So I will listen and say something that lets them know that we don’t reject them or what they are saying…
“Hath God said you shall not enter into gossip?” To judge the situation by “would this be the Christian thing to do” is to enter into that trap of trying to be like God, deciding what is “good and evil” for ourselves. WRONG TREE! To walk in obedience to what He has told us to do is to eat of the Tree of Life and it brings life to our spirits and souls. To live by our own worldly logic and desires is to live in that area where the serpent reigns and to bring death into our lives. I think we are being tested in this way many times a day, all the days of our lives.
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. (Gal 5:16, KJ2000)
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (Gal 5:25, KJ2000)
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Oh boy, thank YOU for sharing this, Michael! ⭐
Indeed, I do know this trap very well myself, this temptation to be nice(r than God wants me to be). Just yesterday and today on the phone (talks and chats) I was tempted several times. If I feel BAD about obeying God, it is so hard to tell myself, “Shut up, Susanne!! Remember what God told you in private as you were in your secret prayer room with Him.”
God doeth NOT lie and He does not change His mind about sin. Sin IS sin. Period. And the Holy Spirit will always be grieved by our sins since our Holy God NEVER changes. Although there is forgiveness, mercy and grace… and His blood that cleanses uf from all sin as we walk in the light (see 1 Jn 1:7).
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Michael said:
Susanne, I love that passage in First John. Even when we walk in the light in perfect fellowship with one another, provision is made for our faults by God’s great grace and the blood of the Lamb. “If any man sins we have an advocate with the Father.” “He knows our frame that we are but dust.” TAS wrote:
“There is provision made for mistakes, even when you get to the heavenlies in Christ. It does not look like sinless perfection. It does not look as though all the faults and the mistakes and the blunders and the injuries have ended, even when you come into the heavenlies. It looks as though grace will still be necessary to bear with things that go wrong. There must be some wrong, then, even when we get spiritually to that position. The Lord says that there is grace for that.”
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Ha! I noticed this particular passage as I was reading TAS daily devotional today, too. What a ‘coincidence’, Michael! 🙂
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dimple said:
Oh, yes, it does make sense. Thanks for sharing your struggle! Lessons learned, then challenged and learned again…
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
You are welcome, Louise. Indeed, the learning process seems to be an endless one…
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Kenneth Dawson said:
Sue your article was very important and I want to reread it again and the comments by Mike and yourself were very enlightning so let me say thanks for it and let me meditate on it for the day—I might add more comments later but I do think what you both said in your comments were very sufficent.
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
I am glad to hear you found what we wrote helpful, Ken. Thanks for the encouragement!
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Michael said:
Thanks, Ken
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Kenneth Dawson said:
I went back and read through the article again and two thoughts popped into my mind.# 1 was a story some lady in Sunday School shared with the class last week–She said she tried listening to Gods voice at one time and she heard a voice in her mind and did what it said and found out later it was satans voice so she gave up trying to listen for Gods voice and now she only looks to the bible for directions.#2 I remember when I was learning on how to listen for Gods directions when He would speak to my mind about what I was to do in a situation and over time I discerned that when I asked for guidance it was the first voice speaking to me in my mind that was Dads voice and then I would hear other voices saying something different and when I followed that first voice everything worked out perfect.It is a learning deal and you just have to get aquainted with Him.—Become what you Behold and fall into trust!
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Yes, that has been my very experience, too, that this first voice seems to have been God’s. We must be aware that our will to obey Him will be tested by ‘anti-aircraft-fire’ aka flaming darts of the evil one. And the closer we get to God, the worse these attacks will be. 🎯🔥🎯🔥🎯🔥
As for this woman’s testimony… she is not wrong if she tries to compare what these voices in her mind suggest with what is written in the Bible. Nonetheless, this comparison will only help when obvious things, like a voice suggesting sin, are concerned. But what do we do as a voice suggests to turn off the computer as we are just writing an important email? The Bible won’t help us along here, I am afraid… 🤔 Also, we may not forget that Satan uses Scripture, too. Even against us in order to accuse and discourage us. Or, in contrast, to deceive us by pushing the ego and the self-indulgence of the flesh.
It seems to me that we need to lose the fear of making mistakes as I read on my daily kitchen calendar lately.
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Kenneth Dawson said:
Yea that is what I was thinking too but I guess there are a lot of people who do not believe in God speaking to humans—-I figure–to each their own but I want all I can get and I have learned to just follow along with whatever Dad says to do for I know He cares for me and He is a lot smarter then I am.
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
May God meet these people right where they are and show them how much He cares as He really speaks to their hearts.
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Michael said:
Ken and Susanne, this woman in that Sunday school class… If she had a phone installed in her house and the first call she got on it was a telemarketer and she did what they wanted and got in debt as a result, would she then never answer that phone again?
As for following the scriptures, I wonder what she does when she only looks to the Bible for direction and reads where Jesus said,
“But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak… and He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.” (John 16:13-14, KJ2000)
I agree, Ken, the first voice we hear when we ask for direction is usually His and the voices that come afterwards to make us doubt the first one are usually our enemy.
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men liberally, and reproaches not; and it shall be given him.” (Jas 1:5, KJ2000)
Today’s Sola Scriptura crowd are not all that different from the scribes and Pharisees of long ago to whom Jesus said,
Search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And you will not come to me, that you might have life. (John 5:39-40, KJ2000)
The scriptures without the light of the Spirit can be used to deceive us as easily as the voice of our enemy can. Stephen showed the Sanhedrin how Jesus fulfilled the scriptures that they clung to and with his face shining like that of an angel they killed Stephen for it because they were of their father the devil and he was a liar and a murder from the beginning. Like Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.”
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
You are right, Michael. This phone example is a good one! I wonder whether this woman made a worse experience than believing a telemarketer. There must be a reason why she is so cautious now. 🤔
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Boy, that is strange!! I had just hit the reply button on the phone as my response disappeared. Believe it or not, it was in the trash folder. 🙃
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Anna Waldherr said:
How perceptive of you to identify the pattern Satan employs in attacking God’s directives! The self-doubt that sets in opens the door wide to such an attack.
I thought your transition from minor temptation to outright blinding by Satan was entirely logical, Susanne. Those of us who are or have been “people pleasers” have difficulty enough knowing our own mind, let alone God’s. Anxious to please, desperate to be loved, we vacillate from our intended course without much provocation.
But the road to hell is paved with good intentions. One small step in the wrong direction follows the next. In effect, we make others’ good opinion of us an idol that takes the place of God. Therein lies our downfall and a tragic outcome it is, especially since God is the source of all love.
Wise counsel, as always.
Much love,
Anna ❤
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Thank you very much for your encouraging words, dear Anna! 🙂
I don’t know whether I was that perceptive here, however, I could not ignore my increasing mood swings after having obeyed God. These attacks of accusation, somehow knowing that Satan was the source, yet feeling as if God had been displeased with me were very confusing for me, indeed!
Our self-doubts do a pretty important thing in the devil’s view because they get our mind off God as our main focus and then the (vicious) circle of revolving around ourselves can start again. Our old nature is so used to bathe in negative thoughts that we can sometimes hardly believe that God is really good.
I am glad to read that you found this transition I made above even logical. This pushing against my people pleaser problem has been a continued struggle for me. Therefore, whenever I obey God instead of pleasing people, I feel insecure since this is still like exploring unfamiliar terrain. You said it so well,
“But the road to hell is paved with good intentions. One small step in the wrong direction follows the next. In effect, we make others’ good opinion of us an idol that takes the place of God. Therein lies our downfall and a tragic outcome it is, especially since God is the source of all love.”
Amen!
Much love to you, too, Anna!
Susanne ❤
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dimple said:
Susanne, when I read your remark about mood swings, the thought came that moods need to be taken captive and brought into the obedience of Christ:
2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and >>bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; <<
As soon as we let down our guard, we will be attacked. Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, my sister! Remember your armor! (Ephesians 6:10-18)
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Louise, I am afraid I chose the wrong wording here. ‘Mood swings’ was a bit too trivializing in this case. Rather, it was a heavy attack that befell me after having bathed in God’s peace. A sudden burden on the heart I could not get rid of for two days. As I prayed about it several times, although I had felt God’s presence strongly, this burden remained somehow stuck to my heart. Even as this person with whom I had to draw clear lines apologized to me after two days, the burden remained on my heart for some time. I spoke with Michael about it who experienced a similar thing at the same time and we believe it was a spiritual attack. Not sure about its full range, though. 🙄
It is interesting that you mentioned our armor here. I recall having searched for something on the internet today and the first thing that popped up on Google Search was about ‘the breastplate of righteousness.’ I did not follow the link, but these four words somehow hit me. 🙂
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