Seeking counsel or instruction from spirits or from the deceased is a wicked practice and demands God's righteous judgment.
God is particularly interested in what is going on within the heart of man. Specifically, He seeks for, and desires to find, TRUTH.
All men, at some point in their lives, are confronted with the truth. At such time, men must choose to accept or reject that truth.
In every way, God is greater than man. A man would have to be a thief to claim equality with God. Yet, Christ thought it not robbery to be equal with God.
Sobriety helps the believer “not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.” In other words, it keeps him grounded rather than haughty. Pride is one of the greatest destructive forces in the world. Pride led to the fall of Satan and will likewise destroy the believer’s walk with the Lord along with his testimony before others. Sobriety is a companion to gravity (1 Timothy 3:11; Titus 2:2) and causes a believer to perceive himself as he really is. The Devil fell when he began to think more highly of himself (Isaiah 14:12-14). In his heart, he thought to exalt his throne and be like the most High. If the believer is not sober, he too can begin to think thoughts of pride. Just as it was with Satan, this pride will be his downfall.
The Devil despises any praise offered toward God. Men who sacrifice to God demonstrate their valuation of Him. For this reason, the Devil longs to eliminate godly sacrifices. Daniel 9:27 references a future time known as Daniel’s seventieth week when the Devil will cause the reinstituted Jewish animal sacrifices to cease. In the present age, God has clearly shown that He has no desire for man to sacrifice animals. Instead, believers offer spiritual sacrifices to God thus demonstrating their praise and declaring their love for God. Just as the Devil will one day seek to end the physical sacrifices given to the Lord by the Jewish people, he presently works hard to keep New Testament believers from offering the spiritual sacrifices of praise to God.
As it is with all sin, rebellion originates within the heart. Long before it manifests itself in the individual’s actions, it finds life by taking root within his heart. The Lord described a rebellious generation by saying that they were “a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.” A man with a wicked heart and the wrong spirit cannot enjoy sweet fellowship with the Lord. As rebellion takes root in his heart, the rebellion pushes out the desires for prayer and for God’s word. Humility is crowded out because of pride and self-will to the extent that a man justifies, perhaps even with scripture, his rebellious spirit. His once soft heart becomes hardened because of the deceitfulness of sin.
During the Lord’s earthly ministry, His most malicious enemies were not common men or even the Roman government. His greatest enemies were the religious leaders charged with maintaining the spiritual purity of the people of God. How could those most religious create discord with the very One who gave them the dictates for the Jewish religion they claimed to defend? The answer is simple. It was envy! According to John 11:48, the religious leadership of Israel determined that they could not allow Jesus to continue teaching, preaching, and ministering to others. These leaders realized that all men would believe on Him causing the Romans to demote them. They would not allow this to happen. How far would they go to keep their place and nation? The Bible reveals that they would even cause the crucifixion of the innocent Son of God.
Singing has become more of a performance than worship because most churches have lost any concept of biblical singing. Singing was not intended to be something performed by the few to be witnessed by the multitudes. All of God’s people ought to sing, but how shall we sing? According to 1 Chronicles 13:8, God’s people should worship the Lord in song “with all their might.” In agreement with that passage, the Bible suggests that God’s people should be singing aloud (Nehemiah 12:42; Psalm 51:14). This is further confirmed when the Bible likens singing to a breaking forth (Isaiah 14:7). This breaking forth should come from an overflowing heart (Ephesians 5:19).
Life’s trials and difficulties are intended to draw people into a deeper knowledge of the Lord. However, murmuring hinders the lessons that result from the trials. The Lord uses trials to draw the unsaved to an understanding of their need to trust Jesus Christ as Saviour. At the same time, the Lord uses trials to teach saved people that they need to fully rely on Him and Him alone. These trials are meant to better the individual afflicted. However, the benefits of trials can be minimized when those enduring the trials begin to murmur and complain about the very thing intended to teach them. Murmuring hinders the education offered by trials. It puts the focus on the apparent wrong of the trial rather than upon what lesson the Lord might hope to come from the trial.
