Friend, the Holy Scriptures say that we humans love "pleasant illusions;" preferring them to God's Truth.

The Great Deceiver is able to captivate us with these "pleasant illusions" and we fall into the depths - many to become masters in our own captivity, not understanding that what we believe is a fabrication foisted on our inquiring minds at a time when we were vulnerable; not having the Word of God in our soul.

God tells us plainly, in very simple terms, that the Way to Heaven is through acceptance of His Son, Whom He sent to be a Saviour Redeemer; through the forgiveness of our sins. That forgiveness, enables us to come boldly before the Throne of Grace and Mercy.

The unforgiven may not do this - there is a great spiritual gulf between them and God.

A "pleasant illusion" can be as simple as believing that all men are good.

We should examine what we believe with the Holy Spirit's help; asking Spirit to reveal to us our "pleasant illusions" that are not in keeping with God's Word.

Open the Holy Bible and read the Truth, straight from the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, Jesus.

His Word will convict of many things that need to be readdressed in our life.

Be strong and determined to make the changes in your spirit that will eternally benefit your soul, and those pleasant illusions will be sent back to where they belong, Hell.

God will help you when you depend on Him for strength, taking it one day at a time, staying within His Will as if it is a great umbrella, never stepping out from under it, but receiving all the Light and Life you need under the umbrella. You can walk anywhere on earth, inside buildings, on mountaintops, under the sea, even when you sleep; but always under the umbrella of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Friend, we all are on a journey through life in the flesh. But God would like to see us all return Home to the Kingdom of God!

He has big plans for us.

He is a Good God and He owns everything. He is a Creator God and is always creating.

There is a place for each one of us in the Heavenly Realm.

We know not what; God will not reveal the answers to us during our sojourn on earth.

Satan unfortunately, has his own plans and has revealed all things to us that pander to our flesh. He offers up things that begulie us and tantalize us. Things that deceive and will harm.

But God deals in the soul and spirit. These are the aspects of man that He nourishes.

It's important to think in the spirit and not allow the flesh to have it's way.

Every decision and choice we make should be based on spirit and soul, not the flesh.

Here's some affirmations for that purpose.

Through the Power of Christ within me, I can do all things good.

I glorify God in the Highest Heaven for He is Good.

My God is Above All Things and cannot be shaken.

I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me.

I love Him because He first loved me - died for me before I was born.

I am free through Christ, my Redeemer.

I have faith in Holy God who has made a Way for me.

Jesus who is in me is greater than satan who is in the world.

Let the Light of His Love and the Divine Supply of His Kingdom be in my home now.

Pour out the oil of Love on me, oh Lord, my Saviour.

Friend, you will learn more as you begin to read through the Holy Bible. You will find them almost pop out of the pages at you they will speak to you so powerfully.

Perhaps you have experienced that here, reading this blog but it is a small drop of what God can reveal to you of how He helps you, teaches and guides you.

Bless everyone who reads these blogs and fill them with the Peace of our Lord Jesus.

Meditation

Friend, are you so arrogant that you have decided that you do not need forgiveness?

In your mind, you will do quite well without God?

Or is your reasoning that you are not a sinner like everyone else?

You, in fact are a good person! You have no need of a God who would decree that sinners who have been given a Way, but not taken it; because they are basically good souls, will be sent to Hell.

Perhaps to you, Hell doesn't exist!

Friend, this is arrogant thinking to Holy God.

You do not get to make the rules, He does!

He has!

You do not know the workings of the universes.

He does. He created them and knows their innermost workings and can change them in a split second if He wants to.

How funny we are to God, and how sad we make Him when we think like this. Strutting around in our full worldly (sinful) splendour.

Friend, stop and take a look around. If you see signs of arrogance in your "self", slow it down and get rid of it.

God holds all the Power.  Just say those words to your "self."

You are not a pawn either. You are special to God but He can't reach you when you are clothed in arrogance.

He longs to shower you with Love and Grace and Mercy but those are not accepted by an arrogant heart.

Friend, consider spending more time alone with Jesus.

When your heart is hurting and your mind is confused, these are indications that your need is spiritual.

Go to the Fountain and spend time alone with Jesus.

Pour out your thoughts to Him. Be emotional. Bow the head and tell Him you love Him and need His help in the matter.

Allow Him to be in your thought process so that when He interrupts or, corrects or reprooves you are able to say, "Yes, Lord. I see that is not acceptable."

These alone times can be great times of growing in personal Godly Knowledge. He is the Father you always needed. Let Him guide you to the correct way of thinking regarding your problems. When you can stand in agreement with Him, you will have a Path of moving forward through the storms of life.

Have a heart of love and humbleness before the Throne of Grace and Mercy. Be willing to learn new Ways to conduct yourself, and then activate what you have learned from Him, into your daily life.

When we set out on road trips without Him, we make ghastly mistakes that sometimes take years to correct.

During these times spent away from God, we deny Him our presence and attention to His need for our love and companionship for which He created us.

Neglecting this time alone with Jesus is selfish. We secretly know that we want it our way.

It is a sin and the one which when we think we have had a relationship with Him, will see us condemned when He says, to us " I knew you not."

And it will be the Truth.

Friend, self love becomes sinful when God is not put ahead of self.

Self love can easily become full of pride and independence which pushes God out of the way and relegates Him to second place.

This type of thinking will never get us far spiritually. The breakthroughs come slower if at all and the Heavenly Joy is overshadowed by the joy of the world.

Self-love is bouyed by the joy it can have that is worldly. Riches, luxury, objects, a life of worldly fullness can easily shut God out.

We must be careful.

God gives abundantly but it is wise to allow Him to give to us when we are spiritually ready and not to go before Him and grasp and take the things He is not ready to give us, because it will stunt our spiritual growth.

We love to be wise in our own eyes. We are masters at rationalizing and justifying everything to come around to our way of thinking.

We so love it when we are "right."

Self-love brings distance and separation between us and God.

Putting Him first and allowing Him to work the Good Work in us, will guide us into the kind of self-love that is acceptable to Him. 

Friend, is self-love the barrier that keeps you from progressing on your Journey?

Decide today to break that barrier down and put God first.

Seek Him and see that He is Good.

When you find that key to behold the Beauty of the Lord, you will realize how foolish self-love really was.

Friend, yesterday is gone and cannot be redone.

The past is the past.

If we have lived ungodly we will experience the past coming into our future, bringing pain, anger, worry, anxiety and all negative emotions.

If we have repented to God for our foolishness, we will have the knowledge that the One Who died for our foolishness has Forgiven us; wholly.

He asks us to "sin no more."

We need to be attentive and fully present with God throughout the day so that we have His help while overcoming old habits and ways.

He does not condemn us when we are actively working with Him to be renewed, soul and spirit. Allow only Him to be the One who helps you decode your past. Let Him remind you that He forgave you for "that", or remind you to forgive others for what they have done to you. But never listen to the enemy who condemns and says you will never be forgiven for "that one".

No, Jesus died for all your sins to be forgiven! 

The devil and his demons will remind us constantly of our past and tell us that we can't overcome. That is a lie told by the Great Deceiver.

Don't buy into the lie. Give it no place at all.

God says you can do all things good through Him, because He will lead and guide you according to His Plan for you.  Each of us is an individual to God. Each of us has gone down some side road of our own making and He has a Plan to mold us into the person He designed us to be as He leads us back to the Straight Road to Glory.

This is where we find Joy.

It is not a false joy as the world offers that fades and must be reignited often with worldly things.

This Joy is Heavenly and fills us and stays with us.

We are not of this world, but we are in it, when we come to Jesus and follow Him, and we must exist happily in it.

Godly Joy will see to it that we do not despair of our past and allows us to do what we must to earn a living and take care of our families whilst knowing that our home is in Heaven and we are just journeying through this world.

Knowing Jesus is loving you and has forgiven you enables us to go forward one day at a time.