Satan is the master of lies, he convinces God's people of falsehood to the point of them defending the lie for him in the face of truth. They will stand against God's love and what Jesus accomplished on the cross because they are convinced of Satanically formulated doctrines that, to any non-religious ear, make God out to be evil. From time to time I'll be grilling prominent lies promoted by churches. Welcome to the first Sacred Cow BBQ.
"For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every barrier raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).
Lie: The Presence of God is Only in Certain Places at Certain Times
If you are in a church service & think to yourself "the presence of God is here" of course the presence of God is there because you are there, & He is in you. Don't assume that just because you don't always feel the warm & gushies that God isn't with you all the time. Acts 17:28 says ALL of mankind lives, moves, & exists in Him. They aren't one with Him in Spirit like Christians are but He is everywhere with everyone. If anyone seeks Him and reaches out for him they will find Him. "Finding" God is like standing nose to the wall & putting your hand out to touch the wall. If you genuinely want to trust Him & know His love you'll find Him right away no matter who you are or what you are doing. Not everyone will experience the same thoughts & feelings because God will engage you in the way you need to be engaged. Sometimes the way you want to experience Him isn't the way you need to experience Him.
Though God inhabits all good just because you feel good doesn't mean you are feeling Him in a healthy way. Your emotions may be getting manipulated in a church service by music or a style of preaching that goads you into believing that God has a special presence or "His Spirit fell" when you could go to a concert of a secular band you enjoy & get the same feeling. Sometimes even a sense of community makes you think God is more present in one place than He is in another. The truth is those emotional experiences are joining the presence of God in you for your joy, but emotions don't equate to God's presence. God is always with you. It is fine to enjoy emotions in a worship setting. If however that setting causes you to disconnect the awareness of God's presence from the rest of your life or mark His presence in the rest of your life as inferior you limit your everyday joy of knowing God.
God was rubbing in His continual presence with us in Hebrews 13:5, He didn't just say He'd never forsake us, He said He'd never leave us too. Why would He need to say both? He didn't, but he wanted to so it would be drilled into our heads. Forsake means to abandon, desert, leave helpless, leave behind, to leave only surviving. Not only does He never get up and leave but as much as you'll let Him He will always help you, He never wants you to feel like you are just barely hanging on. Leave means to send back or give up. Leave also means to let sink or to loosen. God will never loosen His grip on you. His grip is not one of manipulative force but that of a loving embrace from an enraptured Father. In Matthew 28:20 Jesus intentionally invited us to always look for His presence when He said, "Lo I will be with you always." "Lo" means "look," "behold." Jesus was saying, "Look for me in your life because I will always be with you."
For More Read Inseparable & Unforsakable, Fellowship Never Broken
Lie: I Should be Concerned about My Spiritual Growth
There is no such thing as spiritual growth. As a Christian your spirit is full grown. You, as spirit, are created perfect (Hebrews 12:22-23, Ephesians 4:24) & are forever perfect (Hebrews 10:14). It is not your spirit that needs to improve but your mind. We are to let God renew our minds. We are to walk by the spirit by putting our minds on the things of the spirit. Maturing is not growing, it is realizing reality. We mature by coming to a realization of what is already here. God's love for us is here. God's infinite blessings are here. "God has already given us everything we need for life and godliness but we can only use these things when we have true knowledge of Him" (2 Peter 1:3).
Lie: We Have to Pray for God to Move or Send Revival
Saying that there are "moves of God," "waves of God," & that God "sends revival" is ultimately men justifying their ignorance of God & ignorance of the power He has given us. God has already moved & He has never stopped moving. The idea that we need to beg God through prayer to do something great or loving is dumb. It is also prideful, the idea that we love people more than God does so we have to beg God to do good things for others. It is an old covenant mindset that ignores the power of the cross & the grace given out from there. People are destroyed for a lack of knowledge or a surplus of false knowledge. Layer upon layer of performance based, sin imputing, human devaluing falsehood guards our hearts from being willing to accept God's love for us. Jesus is The Truth. Jesus is Love. Knowledge of the truth of love is how people can have God's love move their hearts. Tell people about His love for them! "How will those who don't truly know of our loving God trust Him? How will they hear about Him & His true love without someone to tell them?" (Romans 10:14)
Lie: We Need to Ask for More of God
A Christian asking for "more of God" is like a hungry man sitting in front of a feast refusing to eat. God has already provided everything. He has already fully given us Himself. While we can experience more of God's love, asking for "more of God" promotes a dangerous mindset. One, it assumes we don't have enough God already. Two, it makes us think God is withholding Himself from us, usually because of our behavior. We can't get more of God but we can become more aware of how we already have Him with us. We can ask Him to help us recognize the good & loving things He does for us everyday.
How much God does one human need to be satisfied or overwhelmed? Shouldn't a little God go a long way? It sure should but if we don't know what we've got it won't benefit us. If I didn't know I had a mouth I would starve to death. If I didn't know I had ears I'd never listen. If I didn't know I had eyes I would never see. So many Christians have been taught through various false teachings that they are mouthless, earless, & eyeless; that they need someone to inject them for them to be fed, that they can't hear God on their own, they have been outright blinded to God's love for them because His love is taught to be not only utterly conditional but also abusive.
Lie: You Have to Love God More Than Anyone Else
In church I was taught, along with many others, to love God "more" than anyone else, that if I loved my wife or anyone else more than God that it was a sin. The main problem with that mindset is that it makes loving God & loving others separate affairs. God is our Father. We love Him when we love our brothers & sisters. Loving my brother doesn't subtract from my love for God, it adds to it. This is why there is no New Covenant command to "love God" but instead it is always "love one another." Our Father isn't insecure in how He wants to receive affection. He loves His children so much that our love for one another touches His heart. Because He is not self-seeking He seeks first to love us and second for us to love one another. God is love. As long as love is present He is loving & being loved.
For More Read Love God?
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