Category: <span>God’s Psychology</span>

The Bible shies not away from graphic language when speaking of the devil’s work. Here are a few examples: Daniel 7:25  “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High …” Isaiah 59:19b  ” …When the enemy shall come in like a flood …” Revelation 12:10b ” … for the accuser of our brethren … which accused them before our God day and night.”  Like a flood with a torrent of words and accusations, our enemy rides the waves of high things directed at and purposed to make mincemeat of the believer’s mind. There is a lie in his right hand, a false scenario, a fabrication of truth. Very believable are the lies since the fallen nature of man has a capacity to worry, to be anxious, fearful. Sadness can overwhelm us, unforgiveness plagues us, doubt distracts us. Cares…

Tribulation works out endurance, and endurance, approvedness. Then comes hope, the assurance of which we are not ashamed. Then love floods the heart? Wait! Peace comes first through justification in Romans chapter 5. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: ” Romans 5:1  “Justified” is Greek aorist participle, indicating an action done prior to the main verb. So before peace came justification. We were declared righteous at the point of salvation. “‘Peace’ means that the war is done, …God has nothing against us.” “This peace with God must not be confused with the peace of God of Philippians 4:7. Which is a subjective peace, whereas ‘peace with God’ is an objective fact — outside of ourselves. Thousands strive for inward peace, never once resting where God is resting — in the finished work of Christ on Calvary. “ All taken from William Newell…

“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.  For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? ” Hebrews 9:11-14 How do we gain awareness of life? What are “dead works,” as described in Hebrews 9:14? What does a purged conscience look like? What does it mean to serve the living God? First, we operate by the mercies of God. see Romans 12:1-2. Eleven previous chapters of the epistle of Paul to the Romans explains the mercies of God. In Chapter 1, God’s righteousness is said to…

Rom 14:1-4 teaches,  ” Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.  For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eats herbs.  Let not him that eats despise him that eats not; and let not him which eats not judge him that eats: for God hath received him.  Who art thou that judges another man’s servant? to his own master he stands or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. “ Rom 14:17  for the reign of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit;  Paul addresses the strong in faith by saying to them in jist, “Their “strength” in Christ was never to be ungentle; never to be “used like a giant’s.” It was to be shown, first and most, by patience. It…

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;  2 Corinthians 10:4-5 Defined by the Dictionary of Psychology, Imagination is “the reorganization of data derived from past experiences, with new relations, into present ideational experience”. This means that imagination is often based on real experiences, or a person’s experience with their own reality. It is safe to say that imagination is how one views the world. It is often a re-creation of the world. So, if one is asked to close their eyes and describe a place, they would re-create an image in their head about their perfect world and this would be imagination. Proverbs 13:15 tells us, “Good understanding giveth favor: but the…

Love is long spirited. “When tempering your anger, you do not immediately avenge the wrong, but you leave an opportunity for repenting to the one who has transgressed.” Origen Love pervades and penetrates the whole nature, it mellows anything harsh or austere.” Trench Love does not desire to make war upon the good it beholds in another — and to trouble that good and make it less. Shakespeare Love is not a braggart, does not sound it’s own praises or show off. Vincent Love does not self-display, employing rhetorical embellishments in extolling (glorifying), one’s self excessively. Thayer Love does not make sacred things “natural, “to cause a thing to pass into nature. ” Thayer Love does not run the risk of bringing the virgin daughter into shame, as in 1Corinthians 7:36.(a daughter who has passed the marriage age and father has not yet given her to marry.) He doesn’t shame…

“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:”  Matthew 6:9-13 Vital to our lives brothers and sisters, we must pray for God’s will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Where to be found, this will? Matthew 7:25 explains: “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: Others built on sand. In each case, “And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house.” The rock foundation stood but the sandy one fell.…

A story recalled from Bergen-Belsen — a prisoner “strikes up a friendship with a doctor named Marie. The two are talking one day when a Polish prisoner comes to Marie for help. She is not sick — she is about to give birth. At first Fania and Marie panic, but then they collect themselves and have the woman lie down on a table. Silence is imperative, so the woman, ‘teeth clenched,’ uttered not a word. She knew the fate of children at the hands of the SS. Fortunately, the child arrives quickly, There are no scissors, Marie cuts the cord with her teeth. There is no water, Fania rips the lining out of her coat, fashions a  crude version of swaddling clothes, and wraps up the baby, still covered with blood. The woman, who has not yet said a word” — dresses, puts on her shoes, and takes her child…

Some days no thoughts come. Too much sugar in last night’s snack? Maybe. The Complexity of a man’s soul; body and spirit also, make for an exciting life of wonder. Victor Frankl defined some of the complexity as the tension between objectivity and subjectivity in a person’s inner being. He said we always battle back and forth between the two. I will say this, objectivity (freedom from bias, Merriam Webster) can only be attained from an un-biased source i.e. The Bible. Un-bias includes every person, considers every possibility, and explains every nuance or phenomena known to mankind. In contrast is the Subjective realm ( of or relating to the essential being of that which has substance, qualities, attributes, or relations: Merriam Webster). Subjective is extra-Biblical, however, it is explicitly described in the objective Word of God. Yes, the objective Word speaks of the Subjective in no uncertain terms — head sick,…

1Samuel 18:6 says, “And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music.” Joy, joy joy erupted at the hero’s welcome ceremony following victories over their oppressors.  A cause for great joy. 1Kings 1:40 teaches, “And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them.” The occasion? Solomon anointed king in Israel. Joy at the inauguration of a great king and defender of the people. 1Chronicles 12:40 shows us, “Moreover they that were nigh them, even unto Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought bread on asses, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen, and meat,…