* A battle for our spiritual life.




On May 30, I was dealing with a scripture and I spent several minutes with that scripture, but by evening I wanted to avoid an evil and couldn't recall that scripture.  I was amazed at how fast that scripture had left me.  I couldn't even think of a key word in the 3 verses of that scripture.  So I returned to that scripture that night and got a "key word" into me concerning the subject.

The following morning, I thought about the troubling subject and immediately part of this scripture arose in my mind.  (Proverbs 1  "Their feet run to evil.")    

That scripture had begun growing inside my heart!  

But there are 3 verses in the concept and I knew I would need to spend more time on all the verses to really have this planted deeply in me so I could actually do these instructions in my life.

I need to alert us to this subject for I know we often deceive ourselves concerning scripture.

Here are specific, detailed examples of getting the word of God deeper in us so we can withstand the temptations and problems that would carry us away from the way of God in the matter at hand and bring destruction to us, to our souls.



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The subject I was trying to break away from had to do with the evil concepts that were coming to me through watching television news.

The scriptures that would uproot this are as follows:

Proverbs 1

10   If sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

15 Walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:

16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.



***


First, there is an enticement:  Our flesh is tickled someway by the subject.  Many people love to watch movies which have "spicy" scenes between a man and a woman.  

I have a strong sense of "justice" inside me ... where you want to see issues put right.  But often both sides are wrong in these worldly matters and you can bring no real judgment.

To help me with this, God brought to me the following scripture several months ago:

II Peter 3

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?


13 Nevertheless we, according to HIS promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

We want to see righteousness on this present earth.  But that will never happen.  It is in at the new heavens and the new earth "wherein dwelleth righteousness."  

So by this concept, God showed me I must not frustrate myself by the unrighteousness of this world for this world can never be righteous.  

(Often both sides are evil though both sides try to justify themselves.)

For example:  In the March 2020 killing of the black man by a police officer in Minneapolis, we witnessed evil done by the police.

And in the protestors we also witnessed evil as some sought vengeance by their own methods, while vengeance belongs to "The Lord".  

Also protestors began burning buildings and looting businesses and carrying away merchandise for themselves which was evil from their own hearts.

And the newscasters "ran to the evil", delighting in telling the story and showing the evils of both sides, though they often called the evil of the protestors "grief".  (a lie)

The protestors were venting evil in multiple ways.  And the politicians and newscasters were tying to justify the evil of the protestors by calling it "grief".

Malachi 3:17    Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and HE delighteth in them;

If we call evil good, as did these politicians and newscasters over the protestors, it is a grief to the righteous and even more a grief to God.

These protestors all over the USA didn't even know this man who was killed.  It was just an evil in the hearts of the protestors.  

(To me all this was a preview of the evils that will come from man when God brings the great torments of the end time great tribulations, the various plagues.  The men of this world did not repent.  Revelation 8-16)

But above all, I have to keep my own heart with all diligence, and as I saw the various evils from both the police and the protestors, I was tormented.  So the viewing of this had the potential of harming me.  It all had to be uprooted from my heart in a spiritual way.

Proverbs 1 had the power to uproot this and settle me and keep my heart in the way of God.  But I must get the scriptures stronger inside of me which requires more times with each line of scripture in the issue.

v, 10   If sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

I must be willing to see both sides as "sinners".  I must refrain from my desire for justice, knowing that the righteous I seek will be in the new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteous.  For justice falls very short between both sides in this story and to allow myself to be "enticed" will only trouble me.  So I must turn away from these stories and refuse to be involved in that which I cannot deal with concerning evil in this world.

And I must realize newscastors desire to entice their viewers.

entice:  attract or lure you into the situation, causing you to want more, trapping you

I must avoid the enticement and turn away in order to keep myself in the way of God.  (controlling my own flesh which wants to be involved)

So I must depart from the sinner (the newscaster) who would entice me ... and I must refuse to allow my own flesh to seek more.

All this can be done by turning to God and asking God to help me and by meditating on the specific scripture which deals with the matter, in this case Proverbs 1:10;15-16, keeping that scripture before me "day and night" until it grows strong in me and leads me in the correct way and causes me to do that which is right in my life. 

***


*  v.15 Walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: 

Don't put yourself in "the way" where you are with them.  Avoid "the path" where they are.

***


* v.16  For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.

Know they run to evil ... we want to flee evil.  They delight in the evil stories.  They delight to show evil and be a part of the evil.  And by their opinions, they shed blood, and make haste to shed blood.

We, who belong to God, should not live this way.

***


Joshua 1

7 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law (the scriptures pertaining to the problem), which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest.  

8 This book of the law (those scriptures that deal with the evil) shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. 

9 Have not I commanded thee?

Know that it is God who is commanding us by those specific scriptures which deal with the problem.

Keep those scriptures pertaining to the subject at hand day and night.  Focus on them multiple times throughout the day.  Consider what you have to do in order to do these instructions.  And keep these verses in front of you until you are completely established in the issue, whether it be a day, a month, or a year. 


*** 

Know that Satan comes to steal those scriptures and that way of God from you.  So get those scriptures planted deeply inside of you.

Mark 4  Jesus says:

14 The sower soweth the word.

15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.
(and they turn from the word)
 

18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, 19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.  

20 And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred. 

So we must consider that which would keep us from fulfilling that word and remove that obstacle from us.  It could be a thing that we are doing that harms us or it could be a person we are allowing to influence us in a direction away from the instruction given by God.  Keep our focus on that Word from God and refuse to allow any thing to steal that word from us and to cause us to go another direction.

It is a war, a battle!  It is a battle for our very soul.  And our weapon that we fight with is the word from God. 

Nothing and no person is more important than our own soul.

Doing the word is our life.


***

Romans 1:26-27    For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 

And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

***

Mark 10:6   But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.


***


John 8

31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in MY word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
 


32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

So fight!


*****