Having A Form...

                                     

"Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof." 

What is a form? An empty shell that is used to build something around such as a dress form or the edges put up to pour concrete to produce a particular shape. It also can be a type of empty mold that serves to contain a substance perhaps like a form used to make an image. The problem with having a "form of godliness" is that you are trying to create God in the image you choose instead of allowing God to create you into the image of His choosing. The image you create has no power while the one God creates in you is filled with His presence. Your image is like a robot, all action and no substance. The robot may go through the actions but there is an emptiness there. How much more fulfilling it is to allow God to mold and fill us!!

The Giant We Face Called Fear

 Of all the giants we face in life, fear is the biggest. If you remove fear all the other giants are easier to control. Why do you think that the verse that says, "God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind (self-control)" only mentions fear? God wants us to be clear that fear is not from Him. "Perfect love casts out fear". God is love and He works to remove fear. Now, that doesn't mean you should jump off a building to show you have no fear. When Satan told Jesus to jump off the Temple roof because the Bible says, "He gives His angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways", Jesus did not jump. To jump would have been arrogance. As soldiers we should go into the battle confidently, yet we still need to wear our armor. Having no fear does not mean we should not be prepared. 

We cannot defeat the giant of fear on our own. We need to take the power, love and self-control that God offers. The opposite of fear is faith. The question we should be asking is why it is easier to fear than to have faith?

Think about this, psychologists will tell you that 90% of all illnesses are psychosomatic (in our mind), now if I wish to control you, I introduce a suggestion, perhaps as a TV ad for a certain drug that "cures" a relatively unknown illness. You see this ad several times over the course of watching TV and after each ad it mentions that "doctors recommend". They do not, however list which doctors. Sure, they may list several side effects, but those are sandwiched between the "good" parts. It won't be long before lots of people are being diagnosed with whatever this drug purports to cure. Sometimes people specifically go to their doctor to try to obtain the drug, convinced that they have the mystery illness. The ad has introduced fear and then "just happened" to have the cure. It most likely will be packaged as being "good" for you. Little by little you can be convinced to take poison, under the impression it is helping, while it is actually killing you. We don't ask questions because we think the doctors, government and Big Pharma are working for our good. Granted, sometimes it really is for our good, but in many cases, they are conditioning and controlling us through fear toward the goal of another agenda which may be mind and population control. Those who don't die become enslaved mentally and/or physically, some believing they must have their particular drug. What if I threatened to take the drug away? What might the person do to get the drug? Anything. 

Are we being controlled? You bet!!

One Way

The children were on their way to school for the first time that year. There was a whole group of them. The mom had told them how to get to the school building and that there was only one way to get there. Into the journey a couple of the kids began talking about a shortcut they had heard about. Sally insisted there was no shortcut, yet Dan was persuasive and was able to convince most of the others the shortcut would be easier and faster. Even some of those who were hesitant became reluctantly convinced the shortcut would be better and would allow for extra play time. Sally and George kept to the original path and eventually arrived at the school. the teacher asked where the others were, and being told the others took a shortcut responded, "There is no shortcut. The only way to get to the school is the way you came." The others had become lost and ended up being taken prisoner by an evil man who was the one that had spread the rumor of a shortcut. He intended to trap as many as he could. He didn't want them to discover the true path.

There is only one way to Heaven and that is through Jesus. No matter who tries to convince you otherwise, you will only get there through Him. Satan, like the evil man, spreads rumors about shortcuts to encourage people to take a different route only for them to find a trap at the end of the way he directed them. A few escape, and return to the right path, but most stay on the wrong path because it is easier and /or more fun at the time. What path are you on?

Thoughts: The word "press"

“PRESS”URE 

A series of words that "press" is the base word: 

• Depress-to push down
• Suppress-push into hiding
• Impress-press mark on/ conform
• Pressure- a firm push/force
• Repress- to not allow something, especially feelings; to control what people do, especially using force
• Depression
• Impression
• Suppressant
• Express- push out
• Oppress- to govern people in an unfair and cruel way preventing them from having opportunities and freedom

Romans 12:2 Do not allow the world to pressure, depress, impress, suppress, conform you into its mold. A mold works to make all pieces alike, easier to control. Some many say they wish to express their individuality yet end up becoming/doing what everyone else does. Peer pressure is used by worldly forces to take the valuable gift of free will from us. Without free will we lose the ability to choose or to consider that there may be a loving God who wants more for us than for us to live as an automaton. Without free will we become robots withing the world system. It certainly seems as though our today's government/society is using forms of the word "press" to control and manipulate us. Is that what we want? What are we doing to resist? Consider that the pressure may begin as something which we rationalize is not a big deal, but over time, becomes intense. When the pressure is increased in small increments, one day we awaken to find that what we would have never allowed is indeed become a part of our daily life. An example may be, "two weeks to stop the spread" and two years later where are we, and what has been added?

666 breaks down to making God in our image (humanism), removing man's soul and making man into the equivalent of a beast. The mark of the beast may be more than an individual who sets up a world system. Could it also be a wresting away of our spiritual side? What do you think would make the devil happy? I submit that he would find joy in causing whoever he is able to get to experience the same judgement he knows is coming for him and his cohorts. He knows he cannot win against Almighty God, but he CAN do as much damage as possible on the way to his demise.