Balaam and the Angel or… The Danger of Compromise

Tags

compromise, controlling spirits, discerning the spirits, disobedience, entering his rest, entering the Kingdom of God, evil spirits, experience, false spirits, following Jesus, God's voice, God's wrath, grace, honesty, manipulative spirits, obedience, Resisting the Devil, rest, Satan, the enemy, the fear of God, the whole armour of God, transparency, visions, walking after the flesh, walking by the spirit

Landscape with Balaam (Joseph Anton Koch 1832/36) – German National Museum, Nürnberg

With compromising here I meant the temptation to mix the spirits in order to please people or ourselves more than God. In other words, God has told us to do something, but we begin to wonder after some time whether He might have changed His mind regarding the commandment once given. If God has shown us a certain direction we should walk in, we can be sure that He had good reasons why He led us that way. Whether we understand His guidance or not, it is always also for our spiritual protection if He warns us and tells us not to move along a way we might have chosen on our own. We read in the Book of Numbers,

“God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” (Num 23:19 ESV)

Susanne Schuberth’s Spiritual Diary (Part 6) – On how to resist the devil… in difficult cases

Tags

controlling spirits, discerning the spirits, experience, family, fellowship, Fellowship of His Sufferings, following Jesus, Jesus Christ, manipulative spirits, Michael Clark, Resisting the Devil, resurrection power, spiritual experience, spiritual power, Testimony, the law

Maybe, you like me, have come to know difficult people. Maybe, even VERY difficult people. Perhaps, these people were not only strangers, neighbors or friends. Well, you might have had to deal with difficult loved ones for years or even decades. As much as we should love our enemies when they attack us, speak evil of us, yeah, persecute us because we follow Christ, in the same way we ought to be cautious to listen to God’s leading when we are confronted with such persons.

It is not helpful to always blame ourselves for not being able to love them as we think we should. Sometimes, instead, we need to take a stand and resist the devil who drives them. If we submit to a controlling and manipulative spirit in others, we cannot follow the Lord just the same. In such cases Satan is allowed to make us angry, upset, resentful and… we are hurting at that! Yet, is all this pain really necessary, i.e., has it all been part of God’s plan for us? Or was it rather the devil who knows the full range of how to destroy our God-given peace through any kind of dead works of the flesh? 🤔