Wednesday Night Bible Study

I wanted to post this last night when we got home from church, but the late hour and the fact that I was going to be getting up at 4:30 to take Ari to work (only 5 hours of sleep), was a factor I chose not to contend with! ;-)

1 Samuel 15:22-23 And Samuel said, Has the Lord a great delight in burned offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness (insubordination) is as iniquity and idolatry.  Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king.


How many times have I quoted this scripture to my children when they were little?  So many times I can't count it on my fingers anymore.  After last night though, I wondered if I had the explanation of this scripture for myself and for them would things had been different in my youth and would it had saved my children some heartache as well?!

Rebellion- is the refusal to obey or obey completely and it is equal to the sin of witchcraft (playing around with cults and demons).  It opens you up to the demonic realm.

WWWWWWHHHHHHHAAAAAAATTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!

Yes, that's exactly what I was saying while I wrote that down last night.  I'm a scary person by nature.  The demonic and cult realm scare me.  To me it's like drugs/alcohol and they scare me.  With drugs/alcohol you aren't in full control of yourself.  To me, that's what the demonic and cult realm are like.  Then it scares me because if I'm foolin' around with that, then that means I'm not on my Daddy's side...He's not living within me.  And truth be told, I want Him all up in my mix!!!!

But then I just sat there in shock, horror, shame, regret, etc.  When we disobey God, we invite the demonic into our thoughts, lives, and relationships.

To think that insubordination means to refuse to come under legitimate authority is as idolatry and idolatry is ANYTHING you are using to replace God.  Well, by this point, my spirit within me was really heavy and I began to repent and ask God to show me specifically where I had allowed the door of my life open to the enemy and his minions.

The example given was as follows:  A man walked up to the pastor and told him he wanted a divorce from his wife.  He realized that now he had married a demon and he wanted out.  The pastor said he knew this man well and the situation and had counseled him previously.  He turned to the man and said, you refuse to come in line with your Spiritual Authority, you've opened the door of your home, marriage, and family to the evil one and now you want out?  I say to you today, repent, get in line with your Spiritual Authority, and see if your home life does not begin to change.

When the husband refuses to come under the authority of God, he invites demons into his home and family.  The he doesn't want to live with what he's invited in.  Children may reflect the demons that the father has allowed in by being out of order.  Wives may also reflect those demons.  You don't just walk away from that, you get your house in order.
Sadly this made me think about my own home and made me wonder.  I won't go into detail, but I will say I can pinpoint the exact time period and what was going on when things began to get out of order and it had to do with my husband.

Speaking of which, I'm asking for sincere prayer for this man.  I have had no contact with him and don't know where he is.  However, one of his sisters contacted me and though they don't talk and she claims to not know where he is either, she did share some concerns with me.  He is deeply, deeply involved in a cultic religion.  This sister once lived in great sin and recently (about a yr. ago) gave her life to Christ and began to make a turn around.  He basically told her to go and continue in sin because her life was so much better then.  When she refused, he got extremely upset with her. She did say that he fears dying alone as his father did.  When I say his father's life and his life are a mirror image at this point in time, I'm being very honest.  That grieves my heart.  I know God's desire is that none of us perish and yet we all have free will.  But when I think back...this man knows Truth.  He received/accepted Christ and was baptized.  So to hear about a change in him such as this, is very disheartening.
Satan deceives so that he can get us to disobey, thereby, unlocking the doors of our lives to him.  I'm afraid that this is what has taken place in his life and I saw when it began to happen.  I'm saddened that I was not more spiritually mature to discern then what was taking place.

So the question that was put before us and I now put before you is:  What have you partially obeyed or completely disobeyed that has allowed the enemy entry into your life or the lives of your family?  Repent and ask God to rid your life of the demonic influence.