Posted on 07/16/2006 3:39:42 PM PDT by Quix
The True Lover Of God
Mary Lindow
Jun 25 2006 06:04PM
THE TRUE LOVER OF GOD DOES NOT NEED TO BE LAVISHED UPON BY MAN
THE PRESENT EVILS AND PRESSURES OF OUR TIME ARE NOT NEW TO GOD OR......TO THE PRINCE OF THIS WORLD!
The Bride of Christ has been either over stroked with false platitudes or has been allowed to be spoiled with a gluttony of self-love, self-analysis, and self-promotion. All members of the Lord’s Body, leaders and simple followers, have all had the virus of “I WANNA BE SOMEBODY” attempt to sidetrack and infect the human nature side of their existence.
THE CHRISTIAN SERVANT WORLD IS NOT A STAGE!
Matthew 6: 1"Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don't make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won't be applauding. 2"When you do something for someone else, don't call attention to yourself. You've seen them in action, I'm sure--"play actors' I call them--treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that's all they get. 3When you help someone out, don't think about how it looks. 4Just do it--quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out. (Message Translation)"
THIS EVER PRESENT POISON IS STILL SEEPING INTO PLACES VERY FEW ARE WILLING TO ADDRESS, FOR FEAR OF BEING USED AS SCAPEGOATS OR SHAMED INTO SILENCE!
The Lord is bringing this hidden agenda into light at this time! After years and yes, decades of patient warning, and gracing us with time to repent and reconcile with those we have used, harmed or, ignored. This includes when He either sent them to us or when we were threatened that they might expose our secret sins.
ANYTIME HIERARCHICAL BEHAVIOR BEGINS TO MANIFEST, IT WILL HAVE THE TONE AND SMELL OF ABUSIVE INTOLERANCE FOR ANYONE ADDRESSING THE ISSUES OF LOVE OF SELF AND LOVE OF POWER AND LOVE OF MONEY. It will also not want to associate in any way with anything appears to be weak, impoverished, or struggling!
PURIFIED AND HUMBLE SAINTS WILL BE MALIGNED, and many attempts to discredit or silence their voices will arise and have been arising from some of those now claiming to have “arrived” into the high levels they had so justly earned and deserve. As if earning and hard work were any guarantee or promise God gave to acquire any notoriety!
THE TRUE LOVER OF GOD DOES NOT NEED TO BE LAVISHED UPON BY MAN!
Hearing the words from those heralding, “ I am on the cutting edge of what god is doing,” should send us all running in the opposite direction quickly!
NO ONE MAN OR GROUP SEES ALL.
When there is a tendency to be hypercritical or “smug” about the way the Lord uses others in ministry settings around us and becomes the way an organization or group of specific people joined together relate...you can count on the evil presence of Narcissism and Mammon being the fuel that will feed the fires of deception. When the anointing is moving on something on someone we can not own, or control, if we are not understanding what the Lord is presently anointing, I mean in a service, a conference or even a home group, then we will quench the purity of the anointing by yanking back with the reigns of treacherous self imposed authority, if we are in any way worried about losing our place of importance and earned respect.
THE PHARISEES DESTROYED JESUS AND MANY OF HIS FOLLOWERS BECAUSE THEY WORRIED ABOUT LOSING MEMBERS, MONEY, AND.... POWER.
JESUS HAD A SIMPLE MESSAGE. STILL SIMPLE TODAY, BUT ALSO STILL, PROFOUNDLY RELEVANT.
Matthew 6
19"Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or--worse!-stolen by burglars. 20Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. 21It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being. 22"Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. 23If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!
24"You can't worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you'll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can't worship God and Money both. 25"If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. 26Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.
27"Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? 28All this time and money wasted on fashion--do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, 29but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best--dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. 30"If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers--most of which are never even seen--don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you?
31What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. 32People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. 33Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions.
Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. 34"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
THERE IS HARDLY ANY OTHER SIN STRONGER THAN THE ONE OUR LORD JESUS WARNED HIS DISCIPLES ABOUT, THAN THE ALARMING, DISTRACTING, DISTRUSTFUL CARES ABOUT THE THINGS OF THIS LIFE.
This often entraps the poor as much as the love of wealth does the rich. But there is a prudent side to our responsibilities in regards to material things, though we must not carry these law-abiding cares too far. Take no thought for your life. Nor about the length of it! Leave it to God to lengthen or shorten it as he pleases.
OUR TIMES ARE IN HIS HAND, AND THEY ARE IN A GOOD HAND.
It’s Not about the comforts of this life; but leave it to God to make it bitter or sweet as He pleases. Food and clothing God has promised, so... we can expect them. Take no thought for the tomorrow... for the time yet to come. Be not anxious for the future, how you shall live next year, or when you are old, or what you shall leave behind you. We must not boast about tomorrow, and we must not care for to-morrow, or the events that will take place in it!
God has given us life, and has given us our bodies. And what can He not do for us, if He gave all of that to us? If we take great concern over our souls and for eternity, which are more than the human body and its life, we may leave it to God to provide for us food and clothing, which are so much less important..
TRY TO IMPROVE ON THIS IDEA AS AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO TRUST AND BELIEVE IN THE LOVING CARE OF GOD!
We must simply and like children submit ourselves to our worldly rank, as we do to our simple status. We cannot change the command of God’s judgments! So! We must submit and surrender ourselves to them. Being painfully concerned for our souls is the best cure of loving the things of the world.
SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD, AND MAKE TRUSTING GOD TO PROVIDE A LIFE-STYLE!
Now don’t say that this is the way to starve! No, it is the way to be well provided for, even in this world! The conclusion of the whole subject is, that it is the will and command of the Lord Jesus, that by daily prayers we may get strength to bear us up under our daily troubles, and to arm us against the temptations that accompany them, and then, let none of these things move us.
HAPPY ARE THOSE WHO TAKE THE LORD FOR THEIR GOD, AND MAKE FULL PROOF OF IT BY TRUSTING THEMSELVES WHOLLY TO HIS WISE DIRECTION. LET HIS SPIRIT CONVINCE US OF SIN, AND TAKE AWAY THE WORLDLINESS OF OUR HEARTS!
20Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves. 21Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be. 22"Your eye is a lamp for your body. A pure eye lets sunshine into your soul. 23But an evil eye shuts out the light and plunges you into darkness. If the light you think you have is really darkness, how deep that darkness will be!
24"No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
IF YOUR EYE IS PURE - IF YOUR EYE IS EVIL.
The obvious connection here is about either having a covetous, or a non-covetous mind. Either way the discussion is concerning treasures either earthly or heavenly, and, verse 24, concerning serving either god or mammon.
IT’S ADDRESSING THE LUST OF THE EYES.
1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
Here is where our Lord and King shows how with such great darkness the mind is clouded and dimmed by covetousness, and too much care of worldly things.
SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
The promise is made that if we seek it first, and its righteousness, all earthly wants will be supplied. Matthew 6: 33.
The condition demands,
1. That we seek the kingdom first in point of time. Some plan to achieve a skill, and after they have gained it, they will serve God.
2. We must make it first in importance. Everything else must get out of the way before its demands.
3. It must be first in our affections, have our whole hearts. We must "love the Lord our God with the whole heart" (Matt. 22:37). His righteousness. The Righteousness that God bestows upon those who are in the Kingdom, Christ's righteousness, the forgiveness of sins in his name.
No man can serve two masters.
He cannot give his heart to two services at the same time.
He cannot follow two callings successfully.
You cannot serve God and mammon.
This is the direct application. You cannot serve God and riches! It is here personified as an idol. "Mammon" originally meant, "trust," or confidence, and riches is the trust of worldly men.
IF GOD IS NOT THE OBJECT OF ABSOLUTE TRUST, SOMETHING ELSE WILL BE, AND IT IS MOST LIKELY TO BE MONEY.
Verse 24. No man can serve two masters... these are directly opposite to one another: Either he will hate the one, and love the other; he will have less affection and regard to the one, than to the other;
You cannot serve God and mammon.- riches; which are opposed to God, being loved by some men, admired, trusted in, and worshipped, as if they were God; and which is incompatible with the service of the true God.
People whose hearts go after their covetousness, and are set upon earthly riches, who dedicate themselves to them, are eagerly and anxiously pursuing after them, and place their confidence in them; no matter what pretenses they may make to the service of God are worshipping Mammon and all that attaches itself to it.
So did the Scribes and Pharisees, who are openly exposed by this expression, both here and in other scripture references, they cannot truly and totally serve the Lord. "Mammon" is the god they serve; Pluto, in that era of time was also called the god of riches, among the Heathens. It parallels today's attitude among many so-called believers.
THE ATTITUDE OF MAMMON WORSHIP SEEMS TO ME TO HAVE SPRUNG FROM A NOT SO UNDERLYING ISSUE THAT IS RAMPANT IN THE EARTH TODAY AND HAS IN “PANDEMIC WAVES” ... INVADED THE CHURCH.
What is this massive “viral invasion” titled? “It’s all about me- ism!”
Or, also known as narcissism. The basic trait of the Narcissistic Personality Type is a pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy.
THE NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY PATTERN
* Reacts to criticism with feelings of rage, shame, or humiliation;
* Is interpersonally exploitive: takes advantage of others to achieve his own ends;
* Has a magnificent sense of self-importance;
* Believes that his problems are unique and can be understood only by other special people;
* Is preoccupied with goals of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love;
* Has a sense of entitlement: an unreasonable expectation of especially favorable treatment;
* Requires much attention and admiration of others;
* Lacks empathy: fails to recognize and experience how others feel;
* Is preoccupied with feelings of envy.
WHEN NARCISSISTIC INFLUENCES AND MAMMON COLLIDE, THE LOVE OF SELF AND THE LOVE OF ADMIRATION AND PERSONAL SUCCESS IS THE STANDARD PEOPLE BEGIN TO JUDGE ONE ANOTHER WITH.
Sadly, our churches are filled with ego, love of title, love of programs, love of growth for power, larger and more aesthetically pleasing auditoriums, larger offerings in order to...increase in prestige and wealth.
IN SECOND TIMOTHY CHAPTER THREE...ALL OF WHAT I HAVE SHARED ABOVE IS BROUGHT INTO TOTAL FOCUS AND CLARITY.
GODLESSNESS IN THE LAST DAYS
1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be
lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-- 5having a form of godliness but denying its power.
Have nothing to do with them.
6They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.
8Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth--men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.
10You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11persecutions, sufferings--what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured.
Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
13while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
MAY THE PEOPLE OF THE LORD CALLED TO SERVE HIM BE BOLD ENOUGH AND HUMBLE ENOUGH TO NOT FAWN AFTER TITLE, APPLAUSE, OR PERSONAL FAME AND GAIN.
All are Forms of mammon, but highly applauded in modern society. May they pursue humility and integrity as they “Prepare the Way of The Lord”... ...and make crooked paths straight.-
Duplication and re-transmission of this writing is welcomed provided that complete source and website information for Mary Lindow is included. Thank You
Copyright © 2004 " THE MESSENGER " ~
Mary Lindow
www.marylindow.homestead.com
HAVE VERY LONG FELT SUCH THINGS. Am so blessed to see it in writing.
Of course, it's sobering to me, too. Thankfully, God has brought me a lot further along that good path than I used to be.
I do believe that God's provision as well as His miracles are going to be increasingly dependant on which side of the above we are on. That will be true for individuals, families, neighborhoods, churches, congregations . . . States, Nations.
[THANKS to Jocko Manning for catching several typos in the original. Paragraphing was increased for easy reading. Otherwise, the text is unchanged.]
END TIMES PING LIST PING plus some others.
May this be of spiritual value to you this day, week, month, life.
May we pray for the PEACE OF JERUSALEM and those in power having to do therewith.
May we prepare our hearts, lives, families as God would lead this day, week, month, year.
LUB [Love U Big]
Thank you for the post.
PRAISE GOD.
Am blessed by your comment.
You are quite welcome.
Thanks to you for your many edifying and informative posts hereon.
PING
SHAMELESS BUMP
as I think the truths presented are exceedingly worth awareness and attention.
Thanks for the ping!
"Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified."
Acts 20:28-32
You're quite welcome.
Thanks for your very meaty and fitting reply.
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