Do you notice a change in yourself? It is a personal change, a deeper change, something working under the surface a while, coming to the surface in your perspectives. I notice it in my sensitivities, and for months now, wondered how to write about it.
You all know I am back in school. Every morning I confront my struggle with time. I want to spend my usual time in prayer, but I cannot because I have reading to keep up with, research that is ongoing, and papers to write. Oh, the papers… So I give my first minutes to the Father and offer the lists for the day and listen…. the quiet moments are so precious.
And lately, I notice the internal strength rising to stand for God. Things I considered debatable once now cause me no more confusion; my position is clear, and agrees with the scriptures (which is my intent). While I fight for focus daily to obey God in my studies and present an excellent effort, He’s been working on me. I am seeing the fruit, in part, through my made up mind.
In the last few opportunities the Lord created for me to travel, teach and preach His Word, He gave me to appeal to His people to not fall for the traps to isolate our focus on carnal matters. He is working and generally speaking, His people are missing the message because the wind blows our attention to the important, but lesser matters. When I found this image I thought about Ephesians 4:14.
so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. (English Standard Version)
God gave His ministers assignments (See Ephesians 4:11-13) to ultimately result in the stable and mature growth of His church. It is not the will of God for us to let the winds of doctrine blow us like this image we see in movies. It indicates in which direction the wind is blowing. Sound bible teaching helps us know where a wind will take us, in the direction of “human cunning,” or “craftiness,” or “deceitful schemes” (see the above verse).
Photo by Jordan Ladikos, unsplash.com
I write this to warn the Lord’s church: MANY WINDS ARE BLOWING. THEY IGNITE OUR CARNAL IMAGINATIONS, AND SET FIRE TO OUR EMOTIONS, ALL TO FOCUS OUR SOULS ON THE OPEN, AGITATED PLACES.
Social media is the best example. I looked for a video I shared this week and realized how many times in a day I click “Like” for a Facebook post. It shook me a bit. Daily I see men and women of God — who have influence and a following — post things that ignite the soul. And I see other men and women of God “Like” these posts. And I am convicted (have been for a while) by the wind that blew from that post.
Then, weekly the people of God gather in His house and make declarations according to the Word (we hope!). Some of these declarations are the polar opposite of the “wind blowing” posts we supported on social media. The result is an ever-moving undercurrent of conflict in our lives that manifest after enough time passes to cause us to be confused about our experience.
BEWARE OF THE WIND, Beloved. Carnal winds are blowing, pressing our carnal and soulish buttons. And we let it carry us. We let it inform a new doctrine in us. But it is the way of the Lord that is strength to the upright (Proverbs 10:29). We are still responsible for our walk. Let’s make sure the wind that carries us IS the HOLY GHOST.
The Word, for the people of God. Selah, and Amen.
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