THE FROWARD MAN

What is a “forward” man?  To define the word: Fro = from, back; Ward = suffix, indicating direction, as in "toward", "backward", "afterward"
A forward man willfully goes away from; goes in a direction from; opposes what is being said or done, no matter what it is.  A forward person is like a whetting agent that makes things separate away or from, like soap disperses oil and grease. The direction does not count, only that things go “from”.
In Proverbs 6 we see what the wicked man does when he:
•    Walks with a forward mouth - - It is his manner to oppose everything.
•    Winks with his eyes - - He may say one thing but indicates by a wink that he means something else
•    Speaks with his feet - - You can tell what he really means by where his feet take him (which would be away from whatever is being discussed or done.)
•    Teaches with his fingers - - Points or states his opposition “one by one”; makes careful arguments against.  Maybe not even careful arguments, just arguments against.
•    Frowardness is in his heart - - Is a problem rooted in his very nature and has nothing to do with the issue he is “going from”.
•    Devises mischief continually - - He will invent ways to subvert the issue in question at all times.  He is comfortable with being in opposition.
•    Sows discord - - Gets people disagreeing with each other.
The Bible says he will be broken without remedy (v15)

BC AND AFTER BC

Before I was a Christian, being in church really felt like a dead place.  No wonder, since at that time I considered myself a Unitarian.  I felt that way particularly about Catholic worship observing their rites, clerical apparel, bells and smells, etc.  I have no idea why I, as an atheistic Unitarian, would have a clue, let alone a right, to judge any other religion as “dead”.  I felt it was a peculiar waste of time, sort of like a Unitarian service.  When people talked of their “love of God” it sounded like such a hard effort, full or various requirements, and ultimately a useless one.

But since I came to know Christ, I do not feel a deadness in my religion.  I think there are people in every Christian church who understand who Christ is, what he did, and what he will do.  These are the “Saved”.  There are others who do not know, who are the “unsaved”.  I think this is what the book of Romans describes.  When we were in the law ritualistically performing only the rites, the actions and reciting the “proper” words, and in the flesh, we were dead.  But now that we are in Christ (know who Christ is, what he did, and what he will do) we are alive.  When I was not a Christian (BC) I was spiritually dead; now that I am a Christian (after BC) I am spiritually alive.

KEEPING TO THE ROAD

When God came to earth as Jesus he walked the road of righteousness and fellowship with us.  The Nature of God is to have an open, giving hand; it is his heart to be in relationship with others; he is of action and came to live as an example for us and then to be a sinless sacrifice for our sins in our place and to take power and rise again for our forgiveness and benefit.

It is not God’s nature to be selfish; to keep in his own hands, to be unaffected in relationships with others; to refrain from action and to withhold his involvement.

(Prov 16:4) God made all things for himself - - even the wicked for the day of evil.  I do not think that God made the wicked just to destroy them.  I think they, the wicked, chose to walk in the wrong road, to make themselves evil.  So, God was constrained to make a day of evil for them.  A Day of Evil had already happened once before, as in the flood.

The wicked said to themselves, “We do not want to be this way.  What we want is to close our hands, not open them.  We want all relations to others to be for our benefit.  We want things for ourselves and for situations to go our own ways.  We want others to do what we want them to do, what is best for us.  We do not want to do these things that God wants us to do.”

(Prov 18:17)
"The highway of the upright is to depart from evil"
    The road stretches out ahead of us
    Distant images shimmering in the heart
    What are these distant images? 
        Jesus
        Heaven’s Gates
        A wholesome family
        Useful ministry
        A clean life
    We are driving away from evil
    This is the purpose for our being on this road
        To leave evil behind. 
        Our mind should be, “I am leaving evil behind.” 
Don’t turn off this road for
    “he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.”

Keep to the road.

SCREENING OUT GOD’S LIGHT

People keep wanting to put something between themselves and God.  God wanted them to go up to the maintain to hear his law; they said, “Moses, you go up for us.”  God wanted them to follow his directions for themselves, listening directly to him: they said, “We want a king like all the other nations have.” 

     Using an idol a man built a screen
     Blocking God’s law with a shadow
     Hoping in shade that he would not be seen
     But rot soaked his bones to the marrow

We also tend to put up idols in the place of God.  Isiah 40 speaks of how God will come in power and glory.  It then moves into how the whole earth is as nothing before him.  It then moves into a place where one goes to build an image. 

Maybe it is a “natural” thing for men, when faced with the power of God and man’s powerlessness, to want to create an image, something they can fashion and controll.  This is another “something” between himself and God.

Yet how strange that man is so like Satan and seeks to climb “the sides of the North” and sit as gods.  The intermediaries and idols become as screens.  They block the light of God so we can be our own gods over what is in the shadow of the screen.  We think God can not see.  We really have only put on dark glasses.  There is no screen.

Speaking of wisdom (and hence the only source of wisdom, God:)  “Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.  For he that findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the LORD.  But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.”  (Proverbs 8:34)

I published a blog similar in subject in March 2017: “It’s the Middleman’s”.

ELEMENTS FORM PSALM 50

As I consider Psalm 50 I realize:  God will come and judge the earth.  He will not be angry for the sacrifices we should have been offering (he owns everything anyway).  He wants the stuff that is easy for us to give:  to offer thanksgiving, keep our promises to hem, calling upon him for advice, for comfort, to request blessing (for others and ourselves), for protection, when in trouble etc (vs14, 15).

Why is it hard to ask God for help when I am in trouble, am angry, need money, don’t know what to do about the family?  I think the Psalm shows God wants me to ask.  When I am feeling the least godly is when God wants to be involved.  He wants me to act to involve him in my life.

The psalm also speaks to what the wicked do:  Although religious appearing people talk of his statutes and take God’s covenant with their mouth, they hate instruction by casting his words behind them; i.e. they do not act out the instructions.  They see evil and consent with it.  The commit adultery even if only with their eyes.  They give mouth to evil.  They frame deceit.  They slander their brothers, both their fellows and family alike.

WISDOM VS FOOLISHNESS

We read from Proverbs 8 that wisdom cries so obviously and openly at the public places wanting to speak to all including the simple and fools.  There is no wrong speech in Wisdom.  It is right, truthful, excellent and plain to the understanding.  It is not difficult.  It seems right to those that find knowledge.  They know that wickedness equals abomination.  Wisdom has nothing forward or perverse.

The foolish woman also cries openly at the at the public places.  The fool of Proverbs goes to her.  She is the personification of the type of thinking that is without God.  As wisdom calls to everyone from the gates, so does this foolish woman.  Two women personifying two opposed ways of thinking:  one thinking in the context of a God-directed world and the other thinking in the context of a world without God:  Godly thinking and godless thinking.

There are two groups of people that can be unwise:  the simple and the fools.  The simple are those that, at this present time, do not yet have understanding or knowledge; but it is possible to make them have it.  The fools are those that, for some reason, want to refuse the truth.  Since they begin by refusing truth they can not be made understanding or wise.

It might be said that there is nothing that is inherently right or wrong; all things must be judged by the conditions and attitudes in which they are set.  Things like sex, the taking of a human life and love can be right in some circumstances and wrong in others.  It is important for us, then, to set what we find along life’s way into good conditions and attitudes.  In these circumstances we must listen to the proper woman.  We must listen to Wisdom and not Foolishness.

KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT GOD WANTS

The word of the Gospel has come unto us and brings forth fruit as it also does in the world.  If it had not been that I got saved, I would have become a much different man.  Possibly I would have been in jail by now.  Certainly, I would have depressed myself into a stupor.  A prayer of Apostle Paul for us, written to the Collisions, is that we have knowledge, walk in a right way, have might and be thankful.

- Knowledge of God:  who he is, what he means, what he wants, what he does.

- Knowledge of us:  what our place is, what we can do, what we should think,

- That we should walk worthy:  doing the right things, pleasing god, bearing fruit, increasing our knowledge of God.

- That we should give thanks:  to God who has given us all the physical things in our lives, shown us the right way to think, behave and made us fit to take a part of the inheritance of the Saints.

- That we have the might of God:  his power working out knowledge, patience, long suffering, joyfulness.  This is not usually what men want might for; they want it for dominance and for the fulfilling of their own lusts.  They hardly think of “might” in connection with patience, long suffering, and least of all joyfulness.  I seldom (if ever) think of it that way.

SUFFERING

Mental and emotional suffering can arise in many ways.  One is the suffering we experience from having committed sin; another is when we are being trained, exercised or otherwise undergoing a “learning opportunity” from God.  When we sin, we experience the consequences of sin, the natural (if unwanted) products of our actions. 

There could be many reasons that God allows or even instigates suffering in our lives.  I think one is so we may become more proficient and competent to lead the type of life he wants us to lead.  In other words, it is one of those “learning opportunities”.  While we could ask, “Does God want us to suffer?” we can also ask, “Does God want us to be strengthened in character?”  I submit God does not want us to suffer.  I submit further that character building is not suffering.  It is discipline and it is exercise, but it is not suffering.  When exercise my body I willingly go through discomfort to gain an improved body.  Likewise, I go through hours of instrument practice to someday be proficient at that instrument.

Sometimes character building seems like suffering because we do not want the element of character God seeks to build into us.  When we do not want an element of character God wants us to have, it is sin.  If we do not know we should seek to discover what character element God might be seeking and ask for his guidance during its development.

Mowing the lawn used to seem to our boys more like suffering, than character building but we, the parents, wanted our sons to know the value of work, the execution of home duties, the necessity to support and add value to the family, etc.

Christ suffered on the cross for our sin.  The suffering we endure for character development bears no relation to his.  Christ was perfect in character, we are not.

YOU BET YOUR LIFE

Years ago, while on a trip for work, I went to a Casino at Ledyard, CT. to see what it was like and see if there would be any entertainment there.  I heard there was good food and entertainment at casinos.   The place had a HUGE parking lot filled with cars (MA, RI, FL, CT, NJ, VT).   On the plane to go to my worksite there was a man was flying in from Washington state to go the casino.

In the parking lot there were just common looking cars.  The people walking in were common looking people.  There were hundreds of different sorts of card tables, electronic slot machines, wheels of fortune and crap tables.  It was NOISY. 

I looked at the people, the workers, saw an Indian museum, looked at the paintings.  There was no entertainment or food worth paying for.  There was a place called “Casino Credit”.  I imagine you could lose all your money, borrow more, lose it, and pay long after the excitement was gone.  Why do they do it?  Is it:  “I must have it all, I must have it now, any other life is better than the one I have, I must get excitement, I need to be an important person”?

BUYING THE WRONG BOOK

While on a business trip years ago in Hawaii I bought a book called “Listening . . .” (I can’t remember the full name).  I wanted to have a book that would teach me something about music.  I selected it over another (I should have bought) because of a praise I read:  “teaching the tone deaf how to sing”.  I said to myself, “I want to be a great teacher”.  When back at the McDonald’s off base I began to read it.  I found it was very Hindu oriented.  There ware long passages where he was speaking of his experience.  In one place he spoke of where some sound could be his “mantra”.  I thought, “On no, have I wasted my (Lizzie’s, the boys’, the Lord’s) money?”

I wondered, could I read this book, weeding out all the Hindu stuff?  Would I be risking harm to myself?  Maybe there are good ideas in there I should know and use.

The next morning during my morning reading I was asking the Lord to show me what he thought about the book.  I read Psalm 52.  It says:  “Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs like a sharp razor, working deceitfully, thou lovest evil more than good, lying rather than to speak righteousness, thou lovest all devouring words, o thou deceitful tongue.”  It says that God will destroy him (the man who is mischievous, in this case Doeg), take him away . . . root him out of the land”

I said, “Well, all right, I’ll rip up the book” and I did.  How much do we refuse to hear what those of other religions have to say about things, specially things that seem to directly relate to spiritual things? 

I want to learn, but not that which will separate me from my God.  God can teach me the things he wants me to know without the input of the godless.

REACHING OUT

I once was having a poisonous turn of mind.  Here is what I was thinking at the time:

When I was feeling bad I was thinking, “I am hurting and in need, yet I will not call out to people for help.  People can help (and possibly would help) if I called to them.  I do not call, and they do not reach out to me.  I feel bad that they do not reach out to me.  I feel they should reach out to me, but I know they will not if I don’t say anything.  I know they have no special care for me (and why should they)?  I feel as though we are all in a river, but I have been caught like a leaf on the side.  The other leaves continue downstream as we all are supposed to do.  I know if I do not call out I will be permanently stuck, and it will not be the other leaves fault, it will be my own fault – I could have called and possibly they would have helped.”

The big trick here is to realize that although you may want someone to reach for you (and perhaps they ought to reach for you) the greatest probability is that they will not reach for you.  They do not think of you, they don’t have to.  Even if God tells them to care for you people pretty much do as they wish, not as God wishes.

If there is reaching to be done, you must do it.

When you have reached, realize the scene will not play out as you imagined it in your mind.  The play you imagined will be re written by the other because he holds the pen that writes his life.  You only write your part, the other writes his.  What you write together is how life turns out.

Some feel hurt when the leaders do not recognize them, but the leaders do not have to.  The hurting will set stuck if they wait too long for the recognition to happen.  Maybe it all means we must look to minister than to look for, or expect, ministering.   All we can control is what we do and not what the others do. 

Herein has God manifested his great love for us:  in that when we were yet sinners he died for us,  He came to minister not to be ministered to. What is God like? – he shows us by what he did and does.  He ministers to us.  If we are to be like God, we must minister.

DISCOVERING ROOTS

The psychologists say that you have to look within yourself to find the answers to problems, such as pornography.  They say, if you can just understand why you do it, you will then be able to solve the problem.  There is even the idea that once the root causers of the problem are known, the problem will automatically evaporate.

On the other hand, some things are sin and ought to be avoided just because they are sin.  God defines them as sin, so they are sin.  Sin is to be avoided.  Since it is man’s nature is to sin it follows that a man will have some sort of difficulty avoiding the impulses of sin.

When you get all through with the psychological search for the roots of the “problem” behavior (which we know as sin), you still faced with the battle of doing away with the “problem”, except you have wasted time in searching, you have not been fighting.

Another danger is:  if you identify some “roots of the problem” in hopes of ending the problem, and the problem does not go away as you hoped, you may think “These are roots, but the problem is still here.  There must be more roots, I will keep searching.”  Thereby you have the problem, keep the problem, continue the problem, while you search for more roots.  This is all time wasted from fighting the sin.  A man needs to say, “This is sin.  God says it is sin.  I must fight sin.  With God’s Spirit and his help I will be victorious over this sin.”  It may take years, or a life time.  There may be total victory or only an advancing toward victory.  But you don’t have to dig up roots before you start.

God is interested in victory over sin.  He is interested in your victory.  He came to destroy the works of the Devil.  We are supposed to be holy as he is holy.  If knowledge of roots is important God will show you the roots while you stat on your battle.

There is always the possibility that digging up roots is harmful.  The process may divert true repentance from sin.  At the least it may be a waste of time

One could also get the idea that he can excuse his sin, and continue in it, because of his discovery of roots:  “I think too much about sex.”  “My parents abused me.”  “I am sick so I gamble.”  Knowing you have roots of weeds in your soil does not excuse you from fighting the sin.  Pull the weeds if you can, but fight the sin.

ARROGANT BOASTING

Psalm 10 seems appropriate to discern arrogant, boasting people:

The wicked boasts of  his heart’s desire.  He says those with large homes with swimming pools are best.  With pride on his face he will not seek God.  He says it is good to dump the “old fashioned stifling religion”.   God is not in his thoughts and thinks of those that regard God as childish and backward.  God’s judgments are behind his back (or way over his head) and out of sight.  He is not even aware of what they may be.  He has said in his heart, “I will not have adversity.”  He thinks that only his way is truth and safe, somehow eternal.  He puffs at those he makes his enemies, either in laughing pride when with his friends, or like a puffer-fish when confronted by others.  In his mouth is cursing, deceit, fraud, mischief and vanity.

He is deceived in his own mind and will resort to lies to convince others.  Convincing others to him is to gain a status above others, and that status is more important than truth.

He is in the secret lurking places. When together in their exclusive cocktail parties he and his pals talk against, and may even plot against the righteous.

I know all this is true, for I used to be one, and the people I spent time with were too.  God saved me from that.

ARMOR OF GOD

Here are some questions to think about when we consider the Armor of God:

(Eph 6:17-20)  Armor of God - - he equips us.  We can take the elements of warfare, which he has provided, but we must take it and wear it.  The Shield (of faith) and the Sword (of the Spirit [which is the word of God]) are implements which are not worn like the Helmet (of salvation) and breastplate (of righteousness).  If we do not “take” and “wear” the armor will be useless to us.

We are supposed to pray “in the Spirit” for the saints, and for Paul that he may speak boldly to make known the mystery.  Does this mean we are supposed to pray for those certain evangelists, or are we supposed to pray for evangelists in general and ourselves (the church) as well?  Here it indicates the evangelists.

- - Armor takes effort to put on
- - Clothing stays on easier than hand-held implements.
- - Hand-held implements are more useful in warfare, both for attack and defense than that which is worn.  (The breastplate protects you but you can not attack with it.)
- - The defense (breastplate and shield) is righteousness and faith, not the Spirit (sword - -  word of God).
- - The attack is the Spirit - - not righteousness and faith.
- - (Although in the attack the shield gets the soldier in close and can be used to shove and push).

Why do we as believers use our weapons against each other:  Christian against Christian, Baptist against Charismatic, and not against the principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world?

CONSULTING THE FOREMAN

(MATTHEW 9:38)
Jesus heart was moved with compassion when he saw the multitudes, they  fainted (tired and lay down) and they were scattered (as sheep with no shepherd).  He described this as a harvest, and that the harvesters were few.

What does this mean for us?  We, as harvesters or disciples or laborers, should look around and see that there is a need for a harvest and have a concern for the harvest, i.e. a need to reach the lost.  We should train ourselves to have eyes to see a need and bring it to the attention of the foreman who would be Jesus.  He who may be waiting for us to do so.  The laborers part was to ask the harvest foreman for the harvesters.  By this I mean not to get their for themselves more capacity to harvest (although this could be part of the Foreman's answer).  It is not for my hands in the work but for other (more) hands in the work.  It is that will be sent forth, given a charge to go to the harvest and that God will personally direct more people to the work.  Presumably these harvesters will be equipped with harvest tools, scythes, rates, etc.

We can view it from both sides of the desk in the Foreman’s office:

Laborer – Gets the Work Order - - Foreman – Gives the Work Order
Laborer – hears “Go to the harvest” - - Foreman – Has the intent to assign
Laborer –  needs the tools - -  Foreman – Knows what tools to issue
Laborer – Perceives and reports the need - - Foreman – Hears and evaluates the report

PREPARING THE COURTROOM

(Psalm 9:3) When my enemies are turned back they shall fall at God’s presence. 

What a wonderful thing to know that the enemies fail because God is there at the judgment.  The wicked will have to deal with his face, his hands, his words, his agents. 

I think many of us will see good, experience fruitfulness and prosperity in our lifetime.  But there are others who are not seeing it, and will not see it on this earth.  These, like us, will see the justice of God.  It may be, because of their tribulations in this present life, their cases will be placed first on the docket before ours.

(7) God has prepared his throne for judgment.  He conceived of the idea of the throne;  He had it built; He had it delivered; He had it set up; and he is making plans for the judgment that will take place while he is sitting on it.  The crew of angel attorneys are preparing the papers.

Even if the country falls in economic ruin (18) and a swamp of lawlessness “. . . the needy shall not be forgotten:  the expectation of the poor shall not perish forever.”

JESUS THE VENDING MACHINE

The religion of the vending machine is a cold thing.  It asks God for actions by plugging the nickel in the slot and expecting the gumball out the bottom (the older of us will remember what gumball machines were – all others:  Google it).  As I sat in churches before I was saved it seemed to me people were carrying bags of nickles.  They were plugging in $2.50 before God finally dropped the gumball.  My thought then was:  why spend $2.50 here when you can go to the store and buy a gumball for 5 cents?

We have to be careful not to deal with God in our thinking, becoming requisitioners seeking for stuff, and not being children talking to their father.  We pay with nickles, we plead with nickles, we sweat with nickels when God just wants to give us the gum. 

I can’t come at Scripture with preconceived ideas, imposing them on the word.  Yet I can’t get so analytical that I won’t listen to the voice of God.  For example, I came at Psalm 26 and said, “What are these words saying?”  But I can get so argumentative about what this and that verse says that I don’t hear, or put away from me, what the Holy Spirit may be saying.  “This verse shows that a man does this and expects God to do that.”  “but God is not supposed to be that way.”  “do not bring outside things to the Word, look at what the Word says.”

Maybe being in some other part of the Word than what is being taught in church is good because you are not likely to bring the pastor’s teaching to the Word.  You are in the Word yourself and God can talk without (much) interference.  To balance:  hearing the viewpoint of others, particularly those practiced in the Word, can provide value you would not otherwise get.

PERFORMING CHURCH MUSIC

While I was performing at a worship service one night I asked the Lord to help me, and he did.  It seemed to me that the worship went well.  When the Lord is in even one of the performers does not the Spirit use that to inspire the congregation?  It is a powerful thing if one can depend on the Lord to do the reaching.  But the performer has to want only the furtherance of the Kingdom of God, and not glory for himself.

Music seems like such a frivolous thing.  We would peal away music from our lives before we would peal other things away (like clothing and food).  Yet it is so enjoyable. 

Perhaps it is like the way percussion is beneficial for music.  Percussion would be one of the first to be pealed away.  Melody and harmony are needed more.  Yet percussion adds much of the spice to the musical presentation.

What is a life that is only food and shelter?  It doesn’t seem if there were much enjoyment.  Music may add some enhancement that makes the living enjoyable.  Just as a life of legalism without the Spirit is dead, the Spirit through music can add the joy of the Lord to our worship.

I am not seeking God’s kingdom if:

- - I am concerned that the people react to with pleasure to my performance.
- - I am worried overmuch about my performance.
- - I am too casual about my performance, being lazy and expecting God to work through me.
- - I concentrate so much on the performance that I miss worship myself.

RICH AND POOR

I published this same post on 20 November 2017.  I just read the book, Hillbilly Elegy by J.D, Vance which supports much of what is said below. 

RICH:  GET RICHER      POOR:  POOR GET POORER

RICH:  Come from wealthy family      POOR:  Come from poor family

RICH:  Taught how to handle money, assets      POOR:  Not taught how to handle money, assets.

RICH:  Have education, specially advanced education      POOR:  No or little education.

RICH:  Thinks of the future      POOR:  Thinks only in the present.

RICH:  Has positive attitude      POOR:  Has negative attitude

RICH:  Keeps good company (i.e moral and like-minded friends and associates)      POOR:  Keeps bad company (may not have a choice of the type of company).

RICH:  Seeks competent advisers      POOR:  Does not seek advice.

RICH:  Sees seeking advice as helpful     POOR:  Sees accepting advice as a sign of weakness.

RICH:  Has supportive, uplifting family      POOR:  Has a non-supportive family, or adversarial family.

RICH:  Comes from stable community      POOR:  Comes from unstable and possibly dangerous community.

RICH:  Has some money or position from which to start and the vision to use it      POOR:  Has nothing to start with and no idea of how to change, or even that change is possible.

RICH:  From a community that seeks to advance it’s own (there many good communities, but the Mafia would also qualify)      POOR:  From a community that seeks to keep it’s members at the same level.

RICH:  Has been helped and is willing to help others      POOR:  Has not been helped and restrains self from offering help to others.

RICH:  Willing to accept help      POOR:  Will not accept help; sees accepting help as sign of weakness.

RICH:  Thinks about wealth a lot (perhaps to the exclusion of more important life/family issues)      POOR:  Gives no thought to wealth, or thinks it is not possible for people like him to obtain.

RICH:  Time and chance: they were in the right place at the right time      POOR:  No luck - - not just the excuse, “I’m not lucky”, but actually is not in the right place at the right time.

RICH:  Recognizes opportunity, taught what opportunities are possible      POOR:  Does not recognize an opportunity, does not believe any are available.

We, all of us, have the opportunity to change.  It is sad some of us don't know it, or don't believe we can take it, or just won't do it.

THE BATTLE FOR THINKING

The Other day, while indulging in some negative self-talk, the Spirit of God corrected me.  I had thought something like: “You idiot!”  Then immediately the thought came, “You are not an idiot.”  I am convinced this was from the Holy Spirit.  Thank you God.

Another time when I was working I saw a fit engineer dressing himself after his bike ride to work.  I thought, “My boys do not have a fit father who succeeded in a difficult discipline like engineering; I misused my educational opportunities in Secondary Science Education.”  Then the Spirit of God made me think:  “My boys like me because I am the only father they know.  They probably would never choose another man.”  Besides,  I chose education as a field of study because I wanted to do something noble that would have significance beyond my own life.  I wanted to have “real” impact, not just a comfort for my own being, my own self.  There is certainly nothing wrong with that motivation even though I never became an educator. 

Satan speaks is subtle ways.  Many of us are not aware it is happening.  It easy to overlook the “You idiot”.  The arguments in my mind, or in the circumstances of my life that cause me to put off something good are in reality very small and inconsequential.  Sometimes they are just not true, they are lies.  They are so “small”,  so “natural”, so “quiet”, so much in the background.  We even may not recognize they are not for our good, and certainly not good for the Kingdom of God.  We do not stop and think, “Where is this thought coming from?  Does it match who I am?  Does it match what I know God wants?  Is it good for my Family, my job, my nation?  Who is really at work here?”  Once we realize wicked spirits speak this way, and that it is easy for the flesh to accept them, we can be watchful, vigilant.  We can think more carefully, more critically and say “no”, “that’s not true”, or “I will do what benefits God, myself and my family!”

The battle for right thinking must be engaged the moment it starts.  If it is easy in the failing, it is also easy in the success.  The apparent power of sin is an illusion.  At the inception of the battle the fleshly influences are weak.  Do not let them gain strength.  Fight against them while they are weak.  They can not stand against Godly logic.  What choice is there between knowing the true way and not knowing it?  None; nothing is better than the true way.

Often I disparage myself but I bet I do not deserve the downgrade.  I don’t remember what the thought was but I do know I was not an idiot for whatever it was.  Under truthful light of examination I could not be called an idiot.  I have been foolish in the past, but Jesus has covered my sins with his blood.