Getting familiar with the “do´s and dont´s” - 2 ...

A kind word for the fallen

When you fall into sin, the first one to speak to you will be the enemy. In fact, he never stopped, since he was the one convincing you to sin in the first place.
The most important thing is this: NO MATTER HOW RIGHT IT SOUNDS, IT'S WRONG.
Yes, you have fallen. Yes, it is not good. 
Yes, the Lord hates sin. Yes, that was weak. Yes, you make yourself unclean with sin… etc. All true. But the Lord’s response to that will never sound like condemnation. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life has SET YOU FREE from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, GOD DID BY SENDING HIS OWN SON IN THE LIKENESS OF SINFUL FLESH TO BE A SIN OFFERING (Romans 8:1-3).
This means that Jesus knows it all. Sometimes it's a surprise to you what evil you are capable of or how weak you were in a certain moment, or how easily you were tempted in different situations, etc. But He already saw it. He knows all the sins you will commit and all the sins you have committed. Jesus is not disgusted, shocked, angry, or disappointed; rather, He is yearning for you to bring it to the cross He used to pay for it.If He hadn’t known you would fall, He would not have paid in advance. But He did. And that’s a good thing because it means He has already forgiven it, so all you need to do is ask for the forgiveness He has in store for you. He also sees the reason behind the temptation, which you might not even be aware of. 
So, He has much more authentic grace for you than the petty excuse you give yourself for having done something wrong (petty, not because it might not be true, but because it's petty compared to the power to which you have access in Christ).He also knows the enemy much better than we do, since He was there at the creation of Lucifer. So, He has a pretty good idea of how tricky the enemy can be and how he can sneak in some seeds that become thoughts, leading us to sin until it becomes iniquity. 
The worst thing when caught in sin or iniquity is to listen to the father of lies, because he will use the sin he convinced you to commit to lie about you and God, further convincing you to sin, while using that further sin to lie to you about yourself, others, and God.

Now here is what I think. When we were created in His image, I believe we were made with a fingerprint of God in our DNA. I believe that every human being is born with some form of awareness of something higher than self. If you come to the understanding that there is a God of the universe, a creator outside of all creation, a designer of the origin, that awareness becomes more tangible and translates into a hint of fear or reverence. That does not always mean we then believe in and follow said God, but I would say it gives us a hint of our own insignificance and limitations.Once we are fully aware and somewhat educated about this God, we begin to understand HE IS HOLY. 
That is a good place to be, but it's also the place where the enemy likes to set up traps because it is crucial.
See, if you have a slight awareness that there might be something higher than self out there, it does not make you believe there is. You can ignore that and choose to choke it out completely and live a life outside of that awareness, no problem. No problem for the enemy either. 
If he keeps you there, he is fine.
You can understand that there is a God of the universe, who designed and created all, but decide it has nothing to do with you, and live a life as though you are of no consequence to Him and He is of no consequence to you, no problem. No problem for the enemy either. 
If he keeps you there, he is fine.That’s why the Bible says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder” (James 2:19, paraphrased).
Now, if you start becoming aware and educated about God, He starts to matter, because we begin to have reverence for Him and start asking the right questions. And just like that, Satan has an issue. 
If God has His way, you will come to a point where the enemy will not only no longer be able to keep you in the loop, but you will also start helping others out of it too. 
And that is bad for Hell’s business.

So some of the traps he has perfectly placed are these:

1. ALL OTHER RELIGIONS, FAITHS & PHILOSOPHIES. Yes, ALL other. Once you are convinced that there is a God, your soul starts operating on a new level. It takes a lot to persuade you of the opposite because you have come into the first agreement with the entire cosmos and beyond. That does something to your inner being that hardly anything can change. But whatever he can do, he will do. Leading you to any other faith but Christianity is one of those traps. Why? BECAUSE SATAN KNOWS THE GOSPEL and the reality of its truth. He knows it’s the only way away from him, the only truth that can stand against him, and the only life that can defeat death itself.

So, if he gets you to channel your belief, your reverence, or even your worship—which has now become a part of your reality—in any other direction, he will be able to lead you right into Satan worship. How is that, when there are so many other religions besides Satanism?

Because, if you educate yourself, you will find that each religion worships a particular demon. Other names perhaps, often with a friendlier appearance than the hideous thing that’s actually behind it. If there is a depiction or statue, there’s often some self-serving element, some salvation-by-works element, or some sacrifice element, but never a figure who comes down from heaven, claims to be the way, the truth, and the life, dies for you so you can go that way, is raised from the dead, then ascends to heaven, sends down a spirit to help, and is up there interceding for you at this very moment.No, I’m sorry to break it to you, but you don’t choose which God is the right one for you, because each other “God” is a demon, and they work for the devil. However peaceful and harmonious it all seems, it is not the way to salvation. Now, if the enemy can keep you there because it satisfies you here on earth and makes you calm as long as you keep meditating or practicing these and those things, he is completely fine with it. Why? Because now you are not only not on the way to heaven, but you are also, in fact, aiding him in propagating one of the many ways to hell. You’re advocating for what gives you calm and tranquility, without harming anyone in the process.See how he comes to kill, steal, and destroy? Not just staying in his lane but assuming the position of God, which he was after in the first place, and using the very thing we were created for—communing, reverencing, and worshiping—to usurp our worship and channel it to himself, giving him dominion over what God gave us dominion over. Thus, he successfully perverts one of the most holy things we were created for.

2. INTELLECT. Yes, I said it. No, we do not need to be unintelligent in order to serve God well. But we need to recognize that the enemy is after our intellect because it is what keeps us asking questions, over and over again. And once again, whatever he can do, he will do.

So, he has planted traps everywhere to derail us as fast as possible and then keep feeding us information that he has either made up or influenced because we keep asking questions and continue questioning.With intellect comes the danger of pride. Sometimes, even with intellect, we might get to a point where some things simply don’t add up. But because we have started becoming prideful due to that intellect, we are AFRAID to lose face or admit a lack or gap of information. Instead of questioning our own theories, we would much rather scramble for evidence to support them or point to the lack of evidence in others.The enemy has an easy time with those in our society who are proud and intelligent because pride and intellect feed into each other so well. This can trap you in a vicious cycle, where one of these two characteristics keeps getting in the way of breaking free. If the enemy can keep you there, he is winning because now you are using your GOD-GIVEN GIFT to keep yourself from the actual truth, and in turn, you are helping keep other intelligent people from it too—because intelligent people are painfully aware of the need for other intelligent people around them.Another thing is when he uses your intelligence to question everything, even though you believe. That’s almost worse, because the feeling of almost understanding but not being able to fully grasp it can drive you crazy. Especially when you are surrounded by people having multiple encounters—seeing Jesus, feeling goosebumps, experiencing deliverance, crying, laughing, witnessing miracles, supernatural provisions, etc.—and you are struggling to simply see anything through your intellectual lens.Staying in that place has the power to pull you away from God because of frustration and disappointment.

3. THE "YOU BETTER HIDE" LIE
   I hate this lie with a passion because it kept me away from the only hope I have for so long while I was struggling and suffering.

There is so much to say on this one, but it’s covered in many of the different blocks, so pick your portion 😊.What I will say here is that this lie has so many people trapped in the doorway, and it makes me so angry how successful the enemy is with it.If you know, you know.You are aware of God, you acknowledge the one God, you follow the one God… it doesn’t matter where you are in life; this one is incredibly dangerous.At this stage, the enemy can start using scripture—infused with lies, changed, or taken out of context—and use the very thing you are holding on to in order to destroy you.I hate it. I hate that we allow him to do this to us and to God.Now he has you in a state of constant remorse, but perhaps no repentance because you are unaware of the power you hold inside you to kill sin. If you are unaware of the power to defeat sin, you remain in a victim’s mindset. And as a victim, you might feel sorry, bad, even remorseful, but to some degree, you know you might or will do it again because you are just waiting for it to sadly overtake you again.In this state, you can never come into the full enjoyment of what it means to be a follower of Christ. For you, it is connected to constant shame, blame, pain, and regret.Now, here’s where it gets tricky for the enemy: while you are stuck in this state, you might still believe and muster up enough faith in the Word every now and then to repel temptation or defeat sin.So, what he needs to do is keep you there but also keep you tempted.The phenomenon of knowing of God but not knowing God is excruciating to me.

GOD LOVES YOU! PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Father in heaven, aka God, has such an immeasurable love for you that you won’t even be able to grasp it once you are out of these traps. HE LOVES YOU perfectly, infinitely, purely, and unconditionally!
Yes, UNCONDITIONALLY. BEFORE YOU FALL, AS YOU ARE FALLING, AND AFTER YOU HAVE FALLEN.
HE LOVES YOU!!!!!!

The enemy has worked really hard and really diligently to distort the picture of our Creator God. He has given us false images of how God might be through mythology, philosophy, and even through our own earthly fathers. But God is nothing like any of that. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here.
No, not even if you kill someone will He stop loving you. I mean it when I say it.
SO. The best thing you can do is RUN, RUN, RUN -not away from Him, but towards HIM-. The best place to be when you fall is in His arms, because His love will speak only truth, not condemnation; only comfort, not confusion; and only salvation, not hell. 
God is not the one who reminds you of your sin, because He is the one who throws it into the sea of forgetfulness when you repent. He is not the one who tells you that you need to make it up by working even harder, because He is the one who sent His only Son to work it ALL out for you, so that you can be saved from all your past, present, and future sins. He is not the one telling you to hide from His eyes, because He is the one who created you to have communion with you and, if you choose to, to spend eternity with you. 
SO RUN. Actually, run as fast as possible to the Word, the Holy Spirit, a brother or sister in Christ, worship, etc., because when you run straight to the altar, you give the enemy little time to start working in on you.Once you get into the habit of running to the Father, you grow in the handiwork of defeating sin or fleeing from it. Why? Because with each time you run to the Father, He tells you who you really are and how He really sees you, and then you start living according to that more and more.The Bible says that we are more than conquerors. And that is the truth.
If this is you… whatever you have done, fallen into, or are still doing… leave everything, run TO GOD, repent,
and do not do it anymore.

Am I crazy or harsh to say that? No, not at all.
I’m quoting the Way, the Truth, and the Life who knows best what He is talking about -John 8:11-.
Jesus was minding His business when the teachers of the law and the Pharisees—mind you—brought in a woman who was caught in the act of adultery. Pause.
These were the men who knew of God and were considered intelligent and wise. They had it all figured out. They would amount to professors of theology, law, philosophy, and history—people of high standing.
Then, they caught a woman in the middle of the act of adultery. Adultery = infidelity, disloyalty, unfaithfulness, etc., which means she was married to one man but caught sleeping with another.
Now, I know that even watching porn, touching yourself, and the like are adultery towards your spouse and God, but surely that cannot be what they meant, right? Since there were no magazines or video devices, they must have meant she was physically caught sleeping with another person, no?But we read that she was brought alone. No word of Mr. “touching a married woman, then sleeping with another man’s wife,” which was also adultery plus fornication-what we would call sexual immorality.
According to the law -Leviticus 20:10- that was punishable by death.
So, either the man was super fast in getting dressed and running away from the men that found them -maybe he had practice- or maybe the teachers of the law were not, in fact, after the law but after Jesus. Maybe they simply wanted to use someone to test Jesus by accusing the next woman caught in sin.Whatever the reason…
They did what the enemy is known for, even to the point of having a title. They accused her before Jesus, waiting for Him to either pass judgment by the Levitical law or, in their eyes, blaspheme by telling her that her sins were forgiven.
So to recap, they were learned but seemed to have missed the main point. She sinned against her husband and God, and Jesus was being watched and tested.
Now, watch His response.
He began writing on the ground. THIS RIGHT HERE IS EPIC AND CANNOT BE MADE UP. Watch. Some scholars say that in that very moment, He was fulfilling scripture yet again, namely writing the commandment of God with His finger-“the finger with which He wrote the law” (Exodus 31:18)- or that He was writing “Earth, Earth, write that these men have been disowned,” fulfilling Jeremiah.
Some say He was writing the names of the men there alongside their sins.
But they kept questioning Him in order to trap Him. 
Then Jesus straightened up, looked around, and said, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then He went back down and continued writing on the ground.

Some scholars say He was writing what He had just said aloud. Perhaps.
Either way, the men were amazed and dumbfounded and started dropping their stones and moving away.

I just think that must be one of the greatest power moves He ever made -not misusing His influence but putting those in check who were hypocritical and showing mercy to the one who fell-. Beautiful Jesus !

Let’s finish the story together.
All the men leave, and now Jesus is still writing on the floor, surrounded by a circle of stones destined to punish the woman by stoning her to death.
Notice how she did not leave as well?
Maybe she was still waiting for punishment because she condemned herself. Maybe she was too shocked or ashamed to move. Maybe she was afraid to go anywhere else, but stayed where she had been spared from a brutal death.
I’d like to believe that the way Jesus responded to the entire situation and the accusation found resonance in her soul and gripped her heart so much that she actually wanted to stay, waiting to see what else He would give her apart from the life He spared.
And this is what He gave her. 
First he straightens up again, giving her worth and dignity by facing her and directing His attention and speech toward her directly. I cannot help but imagine that He looked straight at her when He then said, “Woman? Where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
Not that He didn’t know He had just sent them away by what He wrote and said, or feel them leave while He continued to write. 
No, I think He wanted her to actually answer the question so that she could hear herself speak to herself.
She answered, “No one, sir,” probably back in tears by now… I know I would have been from the start for all the obvious reasons.
Then He says, “THEN NEITHER DO I CONDEMN YOU,” knowing full well that He would take her condemnation for her and nail it to the cross, because the wage of sin is death and she should have died according to the law, but He would fulfill the law as the perfect sacrifice for her. 
Bro!!! If that doesn’t SCREAM LOVE, then I don’t know what does. I mean ! goosebumps 

And then He says it. The thing that ought to make us understand the possibilities we have when it comes to life and sin. He says it full of love, knowing He has paid it all, knowing everything you did. 
He cares about your soul more than He will ever care about the wrongs you have piled up in your life. 
So, He made the way, and now we can follow.

Jesus says, “GO NOW AND LEAVE YOUR LIFE OF SIN.”

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