Two currently noted points of disagreement persistent between various parts of the Body of Christ:
Satan either can or cannot "read minds."
People who are converted either can or cannot "be possessed by demonic entities." (...whereof distinction has generally been made as pertains to distinctions between "possession," "oppression," and whatsoever else sort of distinctions are presumably apparent to those discussing the topic.)
..
Which, personally, I'm still struggling over the idea that it should even be necessary to be concerned enough with those such things as to even consider. Just...I keep hearing those things. And I keep hearing argument made that Christians need to know how Satan operates.
I'm not convinced. It seems like a distraction. Entirely a distraction. From Christ.
And everything which distracts from Him seems to end up eradicating peace.
Perhaps to back up a little further, then, in regard to that. There's been such a desire to somehow outlay a distinction realized this past week, in regard to general perception of the Lord within the church. As regards and sometimes opposes knowledge of Him in terms of a living relationship with Him.
Much was all the more clearly evidenced over the course of memories dredged up for perusal, last night. In those days, mid-80s through the early 90s, of listening exclusively to "Christian music," and attending church constantly, unto feeling as though it was a requirement to begin to tell people about their need for salvation.. ...I had never come to a point of actually regarding Christ as more than an idea. I believed in the idea of Him, and had some life-altering encounters with the Holy Spirit (in terms of receiving direct confirmation of the truth of the supernatural, privately outside of the confines of church)... ...but, somehow, the idea of Jesus never parlayed unto an actual direct relationship with Him.
As an example of one aspect of the state of things...
...once, while staying at my Grandma's, some uncle I wasn't entirely familiar with came to visit. Without actually really laying eyes on him, just seeing him coming into the house, hearing him talking to my grandmother...I ran in terror, and hid from him for the entire duration of his visit. They tried to cajole me, tried to console me, tried to lovingly entreat me to come out of hiding to just meet him. But I refused. I was terrified, beyond reason, without reason...and adamantly refused. I heard his voice, knew he was just on the other side of the door from me (I locked myself in the bathroom), could not deny the fact of him being there. Had never laid eyes on him before, and to this day--I really don't know who it was who was there. Nor do I know why I was so abjectly terrified of him--makes no more sense now than it did, then. So, ultimately, I only ever experienced the idea of my uncle, by refusing to actually come into a direct relationship with him. And...again--I still don't know who it was. And my Grandma died last month, so it's too late to find out, now (funny, how it never occurred to me before now, that I could have asked her who that was).
That's precisely what my relationship with Christ was like, back in those days. I experienced His presence. He had made Himself known to me. I'd even, in very definite ways, declared myself to Him in moments of abject worship...wholeheartedly willing myself into His service. But...when it really came down to brass tacks...I did NOT know Him. I could feel His presence, and heard about who He was and is and knew it was true, but when it came to a point of actually facing Him...I adamantly refused. I wanted to be His, called myself His, and for all intents and purposes...generally acted in ways which were allowed for a clear conscience, even periodically thinking myself repentant given guilt over acts of sin..such that I tried to act in ways which I believed He wanted me to act..
...but I refused to actually face Christ. I refused to actually directly approach Him, so as to come to know Him personally. Even thinking I'd done so, so many times...then, as soon as each moment had passed, I would again retreat behind a wall of restraint. I would talk about Him, around Him, and in regard to Him...but not to Him (except for twice--once out of desperation, the other out of consternation--both times He directly, immediately responded...and I refused to speak to Him, regardless). So I definitely didn't abide in Him, whatsoever. He was right there--closer than my family--and I refused to directly acknowledge His presence. Refused. I knew of Him, having spent time continually in His presence and having heard His voice, but on the whole I refused to acknowledge Him directly.
Same as with my uncle.
And, just as with my uncle...when it came to a point where I was no longer actually in his presence, actively in the same building, I no longer thought about him. Because he wasn't a part of the group of people I regularly interacted with. And he wasn't a direct acquaintance. Even as he had been, in a way--just, I had refused to meet him face to face, when he tried. Which makes him no less my uncle, yet means I have absolutely no idea who he is, to the extent that if we were to pass one another on the street it would be without either of us knowing the other.
My relationship with Christ was that way. As soon as I was no longer around the same people...I forgot about him, nearly entirely. It breaks my heart to admit, to think on. How...He stayed right there, for so long...saved my life, multiple times...even answered my questions, the two times I did talk to Him. But the moment things had started getting difficult in life, I completely shut Him out. Completely turned away from even thinking of Him. Except for passing remembrance which was generally very...contorted. I just walked away from Him, though.
That's so very grievous to consider, in terms of who He is and how He loves. I want nothing more than to not grieve Him, now. Except just to want Him, to want to know Him more...to know Him better. Just...not to grieve Him.
I just wonder, now, at how many people may be in that sort of an in-between place. I don't even know what to consider it. Given the depravity which filled my life beginning in the mid-90s and only recently renounced...
...just, to look back on that knowledge of Christ and see that it wasn't salvation? It makes me very concerned and prayerful for so many. His relationship with each of us will be different, given we each are different... ...but, I just wonder.
That we all can have a direct relationship with Him. Isn't that how it should be?
My own personal experience has been that having that direct relationship with Him has brought about conversion, in terms of actual salvation. And I just fear for others. I want so desperately for as many as can be brought, to come to a knowledge of Him--there is no other joy, there is no other hope. There is no other love, really.
He's as close as your next breath, and more deeply intwined with who you are than your heartbeat. His love is more distinctly responsible for your well-being than your ability to wake up in the morning, even as there are many which perpetually refute that reality. It's no less so, for having been argued against.
He's just...here. Yet we don't seek Him. As we ought.
Seek Him while He may be found.
When you seek me with all your heart, you'll find me, He told us. With as much as we plunge ourselves into, to distract, thinking it all necessary to our "well-being"...it takes seeking Him with all our hearts, just to be able to discern His nearness as existent. He's there, we just don't seek Him.
How terrible is that? Really. Seriously.
As my dad pointed out the other day, in terms of someone asking whether they could ask him a question, His response to them was: "The answer is Jesus, now what's the question?"
He is the answer. Period.
Or, rather, He is the resolution. He is the restoration. He is deliverance. He is life. He is love. He is hope. He is joy. He is truth. He is all which is good.
Looking to Him brings whatsoever relief or hope or help as is necessary, in a given situation. He will reveal what is necessary--He always does. He directs the steps of those who depend upon Him, explicitly. We are not to concern ourselves with even what we must say, just that He'll give as we need.
And guide every step. That voice behind us which tells us to turn to the right or the left. Every step.
He does that, when we maintain our focus on Him.
And He knows far, far more than we could ever begin to, regarding everything which is going on in any particular circumstance. He knows precisely where the people around us are coming from and where they're going. He knows not only their tendencies, but He also knows the forces which are acting upon them and apt to act through them, in a given instance.
And He knows precisely how people will respond. He knows.
Just as He knows how that response will affect each one of us, and what our temptations will be, in terms of response. And He knows whether we'll succumb. Even as we don't have to, those who are His. We aren't bound by sin. We aren't bound by temptation. We aren't bound by our own flesh.
So long as we draw near to Him, the rest will go. It has to. There's no place for it, when a person is so fully enveloped in His presence and love.
Just...the rest of the stuff can't get past that.
So, yeah. People have continually tried to create fear and vigilance in regard to Satan and his modus operandi. They continue to try to conjure that up. In Christians, even.
Christians even so doing--I've been guilty of it, both giving and receiving.
But the Lord made it really plain, a few weeks ago, over course of conversation with a family member. Our ability to overcome is entirely wound up in our complete reliance upon Christ, as resting in Him. ...resting in His presence, in His love. Fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit.
Drawing near to Him is our deliverance. Drawing ever nearer to Him works greater degrees of deliverance. Because the rest has to go. Period.
So, in terms of those points of conflict initially mentioned...and in terms of people focusing on those sorts of studies..
..they don't matter, in terms of realization that Christ's grace is sufficient. And in terms of realizing that drawing nearer to Him is what has us in position to overcome those each particular thing.
Think of the Jewish fellows who were casting out demons using Jesus' name. They were experiencing success, going along the process of an "established methodology" as is construed in the process of exorcism according to using Christ's name as the determining factor for success. That's a methodological approach to overcoming. It ended up with them being beaten and stripped, thrown out on the street bleeding and naked by a demon-possessed man.
So, yeah. Go right ahead with learning the ways of the devil, with studying up on how he operates. That's precisely what those guys did--they concerned themselves with established methodology.
As opposed to actually having a living relationship with Christ. Who...truth be told...guides explicitly through those such situations, even.
In other words, I'm not studying up on any of that sort of stuff for the sake of expecting it will somehow empower me to be more effective, in any capacity. It won't. In and of itself, knowledge is empty. Without Christ, all pursuits are ultimately empty and without impact.
I've been on both sides, now, as to be able to say that assuredly and vehemently. Even in terms of having been one of John Wesley's "almost Christians" for a good long while--even to such an extent of having experienced the supernatural, having actually experienced revelation from Christ over the course of that portion of life...without having experienced salvation.
So, knowing Christ and coming to know Him more intimately according to revelation of who He is...is everything. He is everything. That is all.
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