I have been through a lot in my life. I grew up in a Christian home with very strict parents. My grandparents lived beside us and on either side of us we had aunts, an uncle, and cousins. It felt like my sisters, my brother, and I had tougher rules than our cousins. It seemed unfair at the time.
As I got older, it seemed like everyone around me had things going for them, easy breaks, successes, and care-free lives. I struggled. I wanted to do the right thing, but I felt like I was missing out on having fun because I was expected to behave a certain way, speak a certain way, and live a certain way.
Paul and I have had years of struggles, too, in our marriage, our parenting, our extended families, our finances, and even our faith. There were times I thought about how it seemed like the more we tried to do good things, the harder life got, but our relatives who seemed to place so little value in the things of God seemed to prosper and be successful. The devil planted the thought in my mind that maybe it wasn’t worth the struggle to keep the law of God and to follow Him.
The devil is a liar. He comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He wants to plant seeds of doubt in our minds so we will be confused. God is not the author of confusion! If we let our minds be controlled by satan’s lies, we will start to believe the lies. We will start believing that sinners are having fun, we are missing out, and we are doing these good things for nothing. We start to see a proud spirit as good when it is something God resists. We may think people speak out against God and get by with it, but they are not. God is a long-suffering God and He is giving the wicked a chance to repent and be saved.
The Bible shows us in Malachi that this tactic has been working since the Bible days. Just look at today’s passage. God takes this very seriously. We think it’s just a fleeting thought, but it is offensive to God. Read what God says!
Malachi 3:13-18
13 Your words have been stout against Me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against Thee?
14 Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon His name.
17 And they shall be Mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own that serveth him.
18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.
There will always be a remnant of believers of God. Once the believers start talking to one another, a book of remembrance is being written in. The names of the people who are putting their faith in God, instead of looking at their situation, and looking to other people, are recorded in this book. They fear God! Do we? We have brought God down to earth and shrunk Him until He looks like one of us. He is the creator of the universe and all that dwells therein. Stop thinking of God as a little Spirit with minimal power. Stop thinking that evil wins. Evil cannot overcome the goodness of God because God has defeated evil. God is more powerful. God is greater.
Let’s stop mourning what we think we lost when we daily take up our cross to follow Christ. Why? God said that when He finally puts an end to all the wickedness on the earth, He will spare the ones who placed their trust in Him and feared Him. He compares it to blessing the child who serves his parents well. Then, says God, we will be able to tell who are the righteous and who are wicked. There are Christians in our churches today reading horoscopes, tracking moon phases, reading fiction books about vampires, witches, sorcery, evil spirits, and death. They watch television shows and movies that glorify evil, adultery, fornication, lying, gossiping, and backstabbing. These people are so deceived! They believe it is entertainment and nothing more, yet violence fills our world as these things are celebrated.
It is time to remove the blinders. What does the Word of God say about the occult, fortune telling, witchcraft? You need to know that our enemies are not flesh and blood people. It is not your neighbor, your boss, your coworker, your teacher, your creditors, your spouse, your kids. It is the principalities and powers in the spirit realm. It is so easy to believe in a fantasy world and know the characters, their personalities, and their preferences, but then we do not even know what the Bible says about fundamental issues and eternal consequences!
Please don’t wait for Jesus to come back and set things right before you can discern who really is following God and who isn’t. Open your heart to God today. Next month is October. October is a few days away and the push for all things wicked and evil will be in full force ushering in Halloween. Please join me in praying that our nation will open their eyes to the truth. I realize this is not popular but it is so important! I don’t want anyone I know to die and go to hell because I didn’t have the courage to tell them the truth. I would rather risk offending someone with the Truth of God’s Word in hopes they would be enlightened by it than to remain silent and let the devil win!
After reading this in Malachi, I will never again look at things the same way. I will no longer compare myself in my journey to anyone else or anything else. I want to keep my eyes on God and allow Him to lead me and guide me through this crazy life so one day I can hear Him say, Well done My good and faithful servant. Enter in!”
The scariest, most terrifying words we could ever hear would be God speaking to us and saying, “Depart from Me. I never knew you.” Eternal separation from our Father. Eternal torment with no end. It is almost unbelievable but believe it because it is real!
Friends, my sincere prayer is that something I shared today has given you strength for your journey and light for your way.
God bless you!
~Bridgett Owens
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