Monday, April 20, 2015

A Place of Love.

 1 John 3:23-4:6
23 And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us. 
 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world.


On the rare occasion that I actually talk to someone about being a mystic and talking to God and spirits, I find that people are  scared to death that I'm not actually talking to who I think I'm talking to.    I used to be scared of that too.    I realized after some time and study and a lot of prayer that I'm not an idiot, and that the Church has educated me enough on what God is like that I can actually trust myself to know when I'm being duped or messed with.  Don't get me wrong, I still run on the premise that I may be a bit nuts, and if it's anything important, I consult other people before acting on it.   Most of the time, it's nothing dramatic.    God has never told me to kill the neighbor's dog, or the neighbor, vote Republican (or Democrat for that matter), swallow a bottle of pills, engage in necromancy, leave the church (he has told me to get my ass TO church on occasion, when I didn't want to go), tell my neighbor to stop being such a slut, or speed up to run over a dog. 

Really.   Seriously.   

So what comes of this?  Love.   Call your friend.  Check on So and So.  Go there a little early. Talk to her. The result? Someone's bad day gets a little better.  Someone gets the help they need.  I get the help I need. I keep going to church even when I don't want to.  I'm almost always glad I did.   That's the result.    Could I do this stuff without spiritual gifts?  Probably, but I'm kind of dumb sometimes so it makes it a whole lot easier.   
23 And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.
If someone or some thing is telling me any different, I get suspicious.  I tune it out and pray.  I suggest you do the same thing.    
 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and now it is already in the world.
Everyone needs that one friend that they can talk to about these things. You need a sounding board.  If something someone says isn't coming out of love, even if it's not supernatural, ask yourself if that is really from God.   Don't trust it if it's not coming from a place of love.   

One of these days I may do one of those "How to tell if your house has a demon" posts, but today is not that day.  (Feel free to email me if something's literally keeping you at night.) 

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