Imagebearer’s Weblog

Fear is an evil Spirit…ever thought about this???

II Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

I have had several people ask me recently if I had ever experienced “bad thoughts” or even “evil thoughts” with no reason or explanation as to why they came. My answer was yes, as a matter of fact, there have been times when I am waiting to preach, I mean just minutes even seconds away from standing up to preach and these thoughts will come out of no where. I typically quote 2 Corinthians 10:5 which says, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

The Bible tells us that when we have these thoughts they originate with the evil spirits that exist in the unseen world. They are everywhere, all around us in this world.

OK, so we know where they come from. Jesus quoted scripture to Satan when he tempted him in the wilderness and we must learn to do the same. We must recognize first that evil spirits exist in this world. Then we need to quote the truth to Satan. I usually pray something like this, “Lord I lift this thought up to you, taking it captive so as not to dwell on it, I give it to you.” Amazingly, it usually is done and dealt with. We cannot allow ourselves to dwell on these evil thoughts, this is where demon oppression comes from. If Satan can confuse us enough and get us sidetracked into thinking these thoughts originated with us rather than him, then he has a stronghold.

We demolish, disrupt, destroy, stop Satan in his tracks when we quote truth. 

Ronnie

For the next 4 weeks I am preaching a series “The Unseen World” at 1st United Methodist Church Hillsville located at 225 Fulcher Street @ 630pm on Sunday evenings. You are encouraged to join us.

January 21, 2012 Posted by imagebearer | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

The Countdown Begins…Day 21…19 to go…

Today is day 21 of my 40 day fast and yes I would like to eat. However, I must stress to you that I am not hungry and I have not had a hunger pain in 21 days. I know in my heart and mind that my desire to eat is much greater than the anticipation of what the food would taste like and how I would feel after eating.

I believe the greatest lesson that I have learned on this 40 day journey to date is…The Christian world or at least the vast majority in America have either ignored or never heard of the Spiritual Discipline of fasting. There are a lot of problems associated with this.

Problem #1. If you are a Christian and you have never heard of this, it means that you are not studying the scriptures for yourself. I say this because it is painfully obvious if you read the scripture that men and women of God have fasted for more than six thousand years. You will also find that Jesus expected that His followers would fast. You will also find that fasting is just as important and compared or contrasted with prayer and giving of the tithe. Now, there is an obvious problem when it comes to tithing also but that is for another time.

Hosea 4:6 says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

II Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

John 5:39 says, “Search the Scriptures diligently (Study) because you think that in them you possess eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me.”

These scriptures are a starting place. God has called us to know Him and many of us have professed to know Him and yet we have neglected to know who He is and how He acts in our lives.

Wow

Ronnie

January 21, 2012 Posted by imagebearer | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Book Review: Axiom by Bill Hybels

This book is a compilation of lessons learned and tools with ideas to be a better leader. Matter of fact the contents of this book are good for the church world as well as the business world. They are short chapters really meant to read and contemplate rather than just reading through in one sitting. I could recommend this book as one that you have on your shelf (or in your kindle) for those times when you need a jump-start in accomplishing something or when there is an issue looming that you need to know how to handle. It is not one of my favorites and at this time I didn’t gain great value from the book.

I do believe it is timing for me and not the content, the content is good.

Ronnie

January 21, 2012 Posted by imagebearer | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment