I have watched with horror as persons who are supposed to be ‘serving’ the ‘church’ are brought down by all types of scandals from evil habits deeply hidden in their character!
Romans 14:17-18 (NIV) For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.
Peace and joy are listed here as good indicators that what you are into is real.
In our current world you cannot have real lasting peace or joy unless it is forcefully given to you by the Holy Spirit! Fellowship with the Holy Spirit begins when there is honest repentance that triggers God’s righteousness in one’s life. This fellowship gives you power over evil.
So, we ought to be clear of the power we are depending on as we set out to serve God. We could easily settle for intellectual power from human wisdom, leaving you exposed to the snares of evil.
What are the dangers of using any other power other than the power from the Holy Spirit?
It is frightening to imagine the imminent danger faced by anybody who ignorantly tries or is pushed to ‘serve’ God. This is true to anyone who attempts to ‘serve’ before they are set apart, well prepared and most importantly, purified by the fire of the Holy Spirit.
The problem of the handpicked or self appointed ‘servants’ of God is a notable absence of the Holy Spirit in their mission! This sets them up to the evil of pride as the rely on human ability, a spiritual ugliness of the highest order.
Nothing crashes another human spirit (even the unbelieving), like pride!
Pride attracts the evil spirit of haughtiness and disdain. You don’t have to be told that someone is operating under pride, you will pick that very quickly.
The presence of any unclean spirit in our lives attracts curses which brings destruction of the good in our earthy lives. Proverbs 16:18 (NIV) Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
A person operating under the unclean spirit of haughtiness and disdain, are not humble and therefore cannot accept correction. They are ‘gods’ to themselves and to those that they are ‘serving’. This opens doors to other more evil spirits such as greed, idolatry and sexual lust. The unclean spirits change a human personality or character and before long, an individual can be identified by the following scriptures.
2 Timothy 3 (NIV) 1-9 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be…boastful, proud … lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power… They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires,… They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.
The scriptures above clearly outlines what we are seeing in the media. Individuals that have attempted to serve God with their own power have paid for it in a big way. Their foolishness has been made clear to everyone.
God is loving and ready to help prepare you for righteousness but you have to be willing to walk through deliverance. When you are not delivered, however much you talk or do, all can one day be brought to zero by a single demon living in you. Our human thoughts (under pride) protects these demons to hide in us. Many years later after we have build our course and purpose, they come out to haunt us. Demons are enemies of righteousness and should not be harbored in us by our stubborn ideologies and foolishness!
The clues of what we aught to do is captured in the scripture that Paul wrote to the Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 (NIV)…When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom … My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
We must serve God by embracing His power and not teach people to fight sin by the power of words based on human wisdom. Human wisdom is powerless and will only lead to failure. Powerful words from human wisdom and oratory can be stimulating to the intellectual mind but impotent against the powers of evil! I have heard people quote non scriptural human literature that is based on human wisdom to fight spiritual woes. This is a deception of the highest order that makes the devil chuckle all the way from hell!
[Article Author: Joseph GM]
Live In Victory 