Satan uses this natural strength we live with to destroy us. This is what Satan tried to do with Jesus during the temptation in the desert. He appealed to Christ's natural appetites and tendencies. Remember, He was born of a woman. He had human passions of the body and soul. He was "tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. He did not need salvation as we do to deal with our genetic nature, but He was just as much a

Satan wants us to believe that our battle is just about good over evil. He wants us to believe it's about sin. If we get the sin out of our lives, we are spiritual people. It's deeper than that. It is a matter of spiritual strength vs. natural strength. We sin as a result of the failure to depend on God and using the independent strength of the natural man. We become too self-reliant and independent. This natural man eventually becomes too connected to outside senses and begi

Jesus chastised the Scribes and Pharisees for going land and sea to make converts, but making them twice the devils they were. Is it possible that we become twice the devil we were before because we are no longer seeking the real cure to our carnality? We are no longer hungry and searching. We're just working in His kingdom hiding behind fig leaves. Often, we are led to believe this is the best it can get this side of heaven. We are given the impression that we are spiritual

At times, our spiritual mentors are like the wizard in The Wizard of Oz. We have a need and like the wizard, they are behind a big curtain trying to help us in our dilemma. Like the wizard, they have a lot of smoke and noise but have no more power than Dorothy and her friends. They are natural men and women like us with a hope for what they need. In the movie, we see that each character already had what they needed and wanted. They merely required the right person to show the

It is possible to be faithfully wrong. A life disconnected from God's influence can be religious and still full of our natural strength. Instead of seeking God's voice, like Adam and Eve, we are making fig leaves to cover our nakedness. Our fig leaves are nothing more than the religious work that we do. It can manifest in any group of believers. Working hard in church covers up the real problem we have. We try to live for God from our own strength. This will eventually lead u

It is possible to be faithfully wrong. A life disconnected from God's influence can be religious and still full of our natural strength. Instead of seeking God's voice, like Adam and Eve, we are making fig leaves to cover our nakedness. Our fig leaves are nothing more than the religious work that we do. It can manifest in any group of believers. Working hard in church covers up the real problem we have. We try to live for God from our own strength. This will eventually lead u

If our religious life remains dependent on the natural man to serve God, failure will come whether we realize it or not. It is not God's will that a godly person serve the Lord so faithfully and still end up having trouble in life. In many cases it is not that a person can not hear His voice. It's just about out running it. This zeal gives people no rest and God wants the best for us which includes rest, peace and a calm spirit. Paul had to be knocked off his horse and blinde

Satan continually whispers in our ears his interpretation of life, hoping we will react to those interpretations compulsively and make fatal mistakes. We can be completely innocent and have the enemy steal the very life from us. Satan can continue to trick us into believing we are able to do life on our own. Then, because we are disconnected from God, Satan takes advantage of our ignorance and leads us slowly away from God's will. Being religious only adds to the problem. We

We must rein in this natural strength first and learn to trust God. Then, that very natural strength is what we continue to serve the Lord with and fulfill our purpose in life. That strength now, however, through faith is not the master of us, but our servant to carry out what we hear from God. Later on in our Christian walk, after we have experienced hearing His voice, faith is no longer as big an issue because we have accounts of success in trusting God. This affirms us in

Faith is work indeed. Faith is trust and hope in the unseen. It's not enough to satisfy our need for security and direction. Somehow we know deep down inside, like the rich man in the Bible, that we lack something. We must ask the same question he did, " what do I still lack?" (Matthew 19:16 ) The rich man's five senses, no matter how successful, were not enough to affirm him or prove he was complete. For the same reason, we need an abiding relationship with God to be success

We are certainly not talking about religion. We are talking about a way of living, all day long in the presence of our Creator, as it was in the garden of Eden and beyond. Let's consider the condition we find ourselves in now and what God has done to provide that cure. We are Adam's descendants. We are born with the void in relationship and communication with God, that Adam experienced after the fall. Because Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we also now

God wants mankind, once and for all, to be insulated from this kind of outside interference and manipulation. The law could not do it; the prophets could not do it; even the knowledge of Jesus' life could not do it; but the Holy Spirit through the sacrifice of Jesus could. He brought us to the cross and not only did He die, but we died with Him. Therefore, it broke the hold of the outside influence on us. The cross breaks the ability to be distracted from outside forces. How?

Through the fall in the garden, disharmony was achieved between God and mankind. This is the result of the antichrist spirits, we experience today. The antichrist spirit is anything that distracts you from God's voice and results in you "missing the mark" - sinning. John said in the scriptures that there are many antichrists in the world. What distracts you from the voice of God? 1 J ohn 2:18 Ask the Holy Spirit to help you identify the distractions/antichrist spirits in yo

The Holy Spirit carries with Him the Father's character and influence. They are one and the same. If our mind is not influenced by the voice of the Holy Spirit, the information we gather through our five senses becomes a hindrance to communication with God and healthy living. It carries with it our fallen nature and turns the truth into a lie. Satan wants us to believe we are capable of interpreting life and all its information without God's character influencing it. He is ba

Adam like Eve was responding to outside influence, but it was Eve's influence. He sinned in his mind and his emotions and then his will. He allowed his love (emotional life) for Eve to influence his emotions, then his thoughts and it eventually captured his will. It caused him to violate God's directions. He put his love for Eve before his love for God. He was not beguiled, as Eve was. That's why the Bible states that the curse came through Adam's sin not Eve's. Eve was not s