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Darkened And Separated
Brian Mashburn
July 27, 2008
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Darkened And Separated
"God doesn't care about my personal problems."
"It's all my fault. I'm a failure."
"The Holy Spirit is not living and active anymore."
"God can forgive everyone except me."
"I can never be like Christ, so why try?"
"I know it's not working, but that's just the way I am."
Have you had any thoughts like these? Thoughts that lead to diminishment, fear, despair, a feeling of powerlessness, or worse? Sure you have. We all have.
Why do we agree with such hogwash? How much of this stuff do we live under and how much life do we surrender because we never stop and ask, "Where is that thought coming from? Is it true?"
John says that our enemy is a liar (John 8:44), and Moses records that he's more cunning than any of God's creatures (Gen 3:1), so you can expect that he is very, very good at suggesting realities for you that bring, let's just say, less life than God intends.
Paul says that agreements with these half-truths and lies are "futile thinking," and "ignorance". The result? Darkened understanding and separation from the life of God. (Eph 4:18).
Wow. No wonder the Enemy makes use of it. That's his goal.
So how can we know when a thought is from God and based in truth or when it is a vicious attack of the Enemy? Well, one way is to ask, "what's the fruit of this thought?" Does it lead me to life and light, belief and glory? Or does it lead me to self-bashing, numbness and gloom?
Paul insists that Christians see this and not live that way (Eph 4:17). It's time for us to shed light on these dark agreements that separate us from the life of God. It is time to believe we can be whole and holy, like God, truly righteous (Eph 4:24). Will you resist the lies of the Enemy and be one with God?