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Restored 2010
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deborah
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05/23/2010 23:21 |
FYI, I ask for grace with all my typos. Typing remains a challenge for me and my wayward hand at times as does the ability to correctly proof read my posts with my wayward brain. I pray it does not distract from the content of my messages too much. Sorry.
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deborah
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05/23/2010 23:48 |
I just want to add this before going to sleep. I was reading sone scripture and the Lord brought me to theses verses to share with the community:
James 1:5-8
5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
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Ryan McKinney
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05/24/2010 21:38 |
Shannon, I was a member of a Greek Letter Organization too. We did many things that were wonderful for our community and being a part of the organization I learned many skills that make me a good person today.
So much to my surprise last night when I prayed that prayer to have God reveal to me all of the things that were "suspect" the "ritual" or "ceremony" from my organization popped into my head.
I don't think any of the silly ceremonies were harmful to me, but they may have been a place to offer a stronghold for Satan and his demons. I thought about how I would have felt if Jesus was visibly present in the room and that gave me my answer. For me, I renounced the practice and would not participate again.
The reason I came to this conclusion is because although Jesus was not visibly present when I was participating in my Fraternity's ceremony to induct new members, Jesus was present within his temple, me. That made me feel ashamed. I renounced the practice and asked for forgiveness. Then I thanked him for help with repenting.
I'm not sure if this helps or makes it worse. I can tell you that I feel MUCH better today.
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Greg R
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05/25/2010 07:21 |
Although I was raised in a “Christian” home and have been a believer for many years, I was amazed at how many practices and beliefs were brought into the light by this chapter. Passages of scripture that I have been relying on daily since starting week one, and am endeavoring to commit to memory are below. My hope is quoting them daily will help you as they have me.
James 4:7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
As John Eldridge says in his book “Walking with God” It’s a simple proposition, no resist, no flee.
2 Timothy 1:7 - For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NASB - For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
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Greg R
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05/25/2010 10:03 |
Regarding James 4:7, I would also point out before the resisting and fleeing occur, one must SUBMIT to GOD. This requires genuine repentance.
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Jake Van Horn
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05/27/2010 04:33 |
yeah I was blown away by how many practices I ended up renouncing. I have to admit I'm kind of shaken a bit by how many things from my childhood came to mind and some of these things probably haven't came to mind sense I was a teen. I haven't ever considered repeating or nagging thoughts as demonic but it makes sense because these thoughts can be very destructive. there were quite a few items on the list that I have always thought of as sin but it has never entered my mind that they should to be renounced verbally. I guess this is an area that I'm not really familiar with. I have always trusted in the fact that greater is He who is in me the he who is in the world. I feel weird even mentioning it but when I was renouncing all the practices on the check list I felt this rush of excitement all over by body and when I was done I felt like a huge burden had been lifted. All I know if that I was struggling to stay awake and now I can't sleep. Definitely going to stick with "restored".
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deborah
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05/27/2010 10:11 |
Jake, I felt the exact thing the first time I did this chapter. Exactly. And I thought it was weird to say things outloud, and still kInda do because I just assumed Satan and the demons could read my thoughts. I was so deep into the occult at certain parts of my life that I assumed they could. But as Neil points out only God knows our inner most thougts and the demonic is definitely not God! So it makes sense to me now as does the physical manifestation of release once I denounced them orally. It's not ritual. It's real and necessary.
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Garry J
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06/09/2010 12:49 |
Pray for the people in my church - i'm going to take them through this and a couple of them hear voices and one has demonic visitations regularly. Some personality disorder stuff but also partly to do with controlling thoughts and taking authority. Tough stuff, never done this before.
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Jake Van Horn
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06/10/2010 01:05 |
praying for you guys.
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BILL
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07/19/2010 11:14 |
This is a challenging chapter. Honestly because I am in other lessons at church and in the middle of other books I have not committed to reading this book yet. At this time i am just getting done with week 2. It has brought to mind some strongholds I have as well as some questionable material (new age music). Once before I trashed all of my practices with my pastor.
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