Helen
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- Oct 22, 2011
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I once made a covenant with my mouth to stop cussing. The day after, I was worse than I ever was before. A thought in my head said "You are not His! If you were His, He would have helped you keep your covenant."
Firstly , thank you so much for taking the time to explain how and where you are on this issue. Excellent post and well written for my old brain.
I enjoy posts which "have the heart" of the poster within them.
I agree with you on vows. When I was a young new Christian I heard a word shared about being rash with out mouth in making promises to God.
The word was from Judges 11
30 "And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,
Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering."
We know the story...his daughter came out of his house first to greet him!!
That vow was obviously not 'led of the Lord.'
As the Lord said in Matt 5
"I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:
Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil."
Since then, I never have . :)
And yes..agree, we must always check with the Holy Spirit to show us the false and the true. Watchman Nee said that for him , when he we 'checked' with the Lord in confirmation of an issue.....if it was 'of God', his spirit rose within him..if it was of the Devil his inner man withdraw and shrunk back.
<snip>
called everybody forward in saying he did not know what the Holy Spirit was doing and people came forward and began falling down laughing uncontrollably. 700 Club announced that the holy laughter movement was across the denomination as it was no longer a streamlined Pentecostal/Charismatic event, but happening in Catholic and other Protestant churches.
Oh I too can say.." Been there and done that too"
Because we were instantly very sceptical of all this...we knew we could not condemn it without going to a meeting or two for ourself.
We went. To me it was chaos. We knew the pastor and wife of the church well. One guy was shaking and acting really strange and drawing everyones attention..as they prayed over him.
I went to them afterward and quietly said. "You do know that young _name_ was not having a lovely God experience, what happened with him was a demonic reaction to your prayers..." ( sadly they did not agree!)
My hubby and I were in the deliverance ministry ( casting out of demons) for 5 years... we learned a thing or two back then.
I agree with you...there was " another spirit" driving that wave through the Churches at that time...plus a lot of flesh works and emotions. The foolish and thrill seekers will always be easily be lead astray.
The Lord know those who are His..but sadly " woe unto the pastors who lead sheep astray"!!
We agree totally on that one.
I loved Dave Wilkerson, great man.. we had his news letter for years.
As I do not like long post ever...I will continue on a new one. :)