"But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude, for it is sanctified by means of the Word of God and prayer." 1 Timothy 4:1-5
There is nothing I take more seriously in my life than sharing the Word of God. I believe it is my most important purpose in life. We cannot improve upon the Word of God, but we can water it down, take it out of context, and eliminate the parts we don’t like. We can manipulate it as we falsely teach half truths to keep everyone comfortably happy and content with a watered down version of the Gospel. Timothy warns us of this in these verses and tells us how it happens.
We as disciples of Christ are to be filling our minds and hearts with the Word of God daily. It must become our way of life to become a true disciple of Christ. Present day confessing Christians I encounter mostly inform me of the last podcast they have listened to, or quote C S Lewis, or what the pastor preached on, but do we know what is missing? Personal testimonies of what God has done, and is doing in our own lives. With that, you will hear scripture they know, and has been fulfilled, as they have obeyed God’s Word. That should be defining the disciples of Christ’s life. Jesus told us we will overcome by the blood of the Lamb, the Word of our testimony, and loving not our lives unto death. Does that make you uncomfortable? It should not, if you are a true disciple of Christ. True followers embrace the truth of God’s Word with all their heart and long to follow Him wherever it leads them. They know in losing their life they find life eternally as they live for something greater than themselves.
Why do people fall away from the faith? They pay attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. Satan works through people just like the Holy Spirit does. It is up to us to have the discernment to know the difference. Satan is called the great deceiver because he is, and the Bible also tells us he appears as an angel of light.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 declares:
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds."
Understand these are people teaching Bible studies, preaching from the pulpit, they are sown throughout the body of Christ, and have always been since Genesis. They are described as hypocritical liars with seared consciences as with a branding iron. They feel no conviction. They believe their own lies. Habitual liars believe their own lies. They are deceived, because they do not have the truth in them. We have to choose to put the truth within ourselves. It is a choice. None of us are victims of satan. God has told us how to overcome in His Word.
Very few professing believers today have the Word of God the priority of their lives. They have a great knowledge of well known writers, speakers, TV ministers and the latest and greatest podcast spinning. They are involved in a lot of religious activities they stamp as the will of God. When we proclaim the will of God we need to know what the will of God is. There is no way of that happening unless you can prove it scripturally. Every deed is to be initiated by the Holy Spirit. We are to do nothing apart from obedience. It cannot be our good intentions, or our great idea. It must truly be an act of obedience initiated by the Holy Spirit.
Listen to Jesus, who we claim to be followers of in John 5:30 and 5:44:
"I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is just because I do not seek my own will, but the will of Him who sent Me."
"How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another, and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?"
Read the full teaching of Jesus in the chapter for fuller understanding. Without gaining truth from the Word of God we have not got the truth dwelling in our spirits to counter the lies of satan. Therefore we lean to our own understanding.
Our relationship with our Lord must be the top priority in our lives. This very real spiritual battle we are all in is not a game whether you believe it or not. You are either serving God, or you are serving satan. I am sorry if that makes us uncomfortable, but it is the only way to be free from the father of lies, and live a life for Christ. It must not only be in our words, but lived out in obedience to the Holy Spirit revealing the truth of God’s Word. It cannot just be knowledge of the Bible, but birthed out of a personal relationship with the Author of the Book of books. We are ALL extended that invitation. No one is left out no matter what you have or haven’t done. We do not want our conscience seared. We must pray for the conviction of the Holy Spirit in our lives where we are deceived. We must cry out to God praying His very promise from His Word in John 16:13:
"But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come."
O my how I fall short of this standard, but I will strive to be like Him till my last breath. We cannot give up. I comfort myself with this verse often, knowing how much He desires for us to walk in the only truth that can set us truly free from ourselves and the enemy. Most importantly, I know it alone has the power to change and transform me into His image. We should be continuously changing if we are allowing His Word to richly dwell in our hearts as scripture says.
We will never reach perfection as He was as long as we are still in this body battling our flesh which wars against our spirit. But there is coming a day we will be free of our sin nature and truly be as He is completely free from sin!
Until then we are given some examples in our verses today of what not to listen to. We are not to abstain from marriage, as marriage is a God ordained institute producing families which make up our society. We are told not to abstain from foods under man-made laws God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who know the truth. Then we are told, for everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude, for it is sanctified by the means of God and prayer. This verse was very freeing to me as I can get bogged down with trying to eat healthy all the time. It convicted me of my lack of gratitude for food period. Most of my life I have taken for granted always having an abundance of food choices. As Americans, that is easy to do. I also realized I needed to rely on the sanctification of prayer and thankfulness more than me eating correctly. Again, in the Word of God it tells us whether in eating, drinking or whatsoever we are doing, we are to do all things for the glory of God. If we focus on living for Him, rather than pleasing our flesh, we will eat healthier, because we know our bodies are the temple of His Holy Spirit, if we read His Word.
My deepest heartfelt prayer for all of us is that we will make the reading of God’s Word our highest priority of our day, everyday. It will change your life! How can we be His disciple when we don’t know what it even means as we look to one another, rather than the Word of God itself. We cannot go any higher than our Bible. It is the only source that holds an answer for any problem we can encounter. Think about it. Why do we not go directly to the Source, rather than having it watered down, and not nearly as effective as going to God ourselves. Yes, it is easier on our flesh to be spoon fed, but we will never mature into true disciples of Christ when we choose the easier way. Know this.
But you won’t know it, and will be susceptible to every false teacher controlled by lying spirits and doctrines of demons, massively infiltrating the body of Christ at this moment, unless we saturate our minds with the Word of God daily. May we wake up to reality in the Church. We must return to the Bible in hand, and stay in God’s Presence prayerfully seeking understanding and truth in our innermost beings alone with Him. I am not nearly as concerned about people assembling together as I am us not being willing to be separated unto God alone. I find very few willing to forsake fellowship with each other, rather than with God Himself. Church, we have our priorities backward. He must have first place in all things, to become His follower, rather than sheep following sheep. We must know and follow the true Shepherd, and that is found in Christ alone.
In His love.
Teresa Roberts
Masterpiece Fitness
276-237-6680
Participated in the Pilot Mountain 20k yesterday. I love running that mountain! Had a great run in the cool, breezy morning.
