​"I WOULD NEVER DO THAT"

People who say this have done themselves no favor. It has gotten the attention of the Father of lies, Lucifer, and now he will set out to make you a liar as well, just like himself. He won't spare anything to accomplish this; people, circumstances, crisis events, lust, no temptation will be too despicable for him to get you into the place of giving in and becoming his pawn. And whether you want to admit it or not, you've probably been sorely tempted many times and only the grace of God has kept you from going headlong into the sin your condemning someone else of; to this point.

Then there are those who can't see themselves in light of what God thinks of them, because they are willfully blind. These are like those who sit at the bar stool on Friday nights with their favorite drink, watching "light" porn on the TV over the head of the bartender, and gossip about the girl he just had a quick one night stand with a couple of nights ago, with the buddy sitting next to him; and gulps down the last of his drink before heading home to his wife and kids. You can imagine other scenarios; such as the men at hunting camp, or the road trip... These men laugh at and ridicule the women they've ruined, gotten pregnant, helped get abortions; then go home to their respectable tidy lives. Many of them in high places. The long-haul truck driver that has a string of call girls across the country-but goes home to a house full of kids and a wife, who pretends she doesn't know. The phycologist who gives advice to everybody on how to live a good meaningful life-who can't face life without a daily fix of a favorite drug/drink and the mix of both. But, he puts on a good act and people listen and turn a blind eye, and elevate him in the public-and he's twice the bad influence than an honest drunk or drug addict.

Then the respected woman of town who lives a good upstanding life for the public while living her own version of Peyton Place. She condemns anyone else's failures and sins in order to hide her own dirty laundry. It's an old strategy, but a proven one that works. It gets her a following of other's of like mind; out to put on the best front for the public. The false fronts, big smiles, and coy maneuvers eventually destroy the persons true personality completely and your left looking at a mannequin, a talking puppet. Sadly by the time they get to this place, they cannot see themselves as they really are; they have self destructed. One of the most dangerous places to be for a woman who wants to never become like this, is the women community action programs and "coffee brunches". Do I hate women? No, but I know them, and how they go about cutting somebody to pieces with their mouths, and nothing is beneath them to do it. These gatherings become a den of laughing hyenas, and Parana. You may be someone reading this and knowing exactly what I'm talking about, because it's been done to you. It takes time, but you can heal from it, and learn to stay away from them for your own sanity and self respect. I know this is too much truth and reality for a lot of people-so be it.

Everyone has a bit of Pharisee in them, but a great many will never allow themselves to see what is really in their hearts. If they read the bible it would read them, which is also why so few do. How many Christians go to church every Sunday, with not a bible in sight, the main topic is the programs, and the next pot luck dinner. Many people make it to the top, by wearing a variety of masks-that portray an image of them they know the public will accept, and it will give them the prestige, "respected" name and positions their trying to achieve. Christians have their masks, and interchange them as needed.

If you've given your life to the Lord, repented of your sins, and desired to walk a righteous life after coming out of great sin, you very well may find that people will never forgive you of your past. Those sins are now washed in the blood of Christ, and forgotten by God. He never mentions it again to you, your now on the path of righteousness, and a new creature in Christ. But the world does not care, and many will never let you forget your past. This goes for family members as well. No matter how many years go by, they will continue to see you and remind you of what you once were. They can't or won't see the change God has made in you. On the internet, the craftiness, manipulations, and deception is beyond anything I could have imagined, it's truly been a learning experience, a grievous one.

Since beginning this page, and my websites, I've observed the subtle behavior of those with Youtube channels, and Facebook pages. If you "like" their page-in a short while you'll come to know their tactics-they'll come to your sites, look over your posts, and material on your sites, then they'll really dig into your personal life-and break into your personal files. Believe me, they know how to do it. Nothing is sacred to them- but they like to put on the air of being in places of high integrity, and respectability. They'll find out your past before you were saved, and if they find something they feel makes you "unworthy" to be in their category-you'll start to see the difference in their actions, speech and they'll throw out names and titles, to either impress you, or try to drive you away. I've come to know the patterns pretty good. These people will also use your work if they can get away with it, and steal your inspiration, and put their own names on it. I've got just one thing to say to these people: I wonder what would fall out of your closets, if they were opened; and one day what you think you've stolen, you'll find God never put it toward your account in heaven, it will go to the one who created it. I use material and graphics that's already in the public domain, and when needed-give the person the credit they deserve when I do-I don't hack into other peoples private files and steal their work, or use it against them. I'll be glad when God takes care of this, it truly stinks to me. I've been accused of doing things I've never done, it's ruined much I know the Lord had intended for this ministry-because the motive is to destroy you-and they use all the means they have, to do that if they can. I remind myself, It's not over, till Judgment Day, and It's coming.

Then I'll end with this- you better make sure your masks stay on firmly, and make sure you have a wide assortment of them-to be able to interchange them as needed, with all the other phonies you interact with.

If you are in a place of being misunderstood, judged and condemned; my prayer is that God will continue to strengthen you in the inner man, and help you stand no matter what the opposition. That you will get into His word, talk to the Lord, pour out your heart to Him and allow Him to be your shield and buckler in every battle you face, as the battle intensifies, the power of the Holy Ghost will give you all you need to get through it in victory.
Lorna Couillard

Below are some good scripture references that speak to this issue well-it would be a real eye-opener to study them, and do some cross referencing. Also this link to a good sermon, also speaks to this subject:
Adrian Rogers: The Final Judgment 
https://youtu.be/Q3a9-o6VyBc

​In this post, I'm going to let the Bible speak for itself to define what a fool is, and how they behave. The Holy Spirit has a very good ability of speaking to those who fit the description-without me saying a word.

Psa_14:1  To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psa 14:2  The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. 
Psa 14:3  They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 
Psa_49:10  For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.
Psa_53:1  To the chief Musician upon Mahalath, Maschil, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.
Psa_92:6  A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.
Pro_7:22  He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;
Pro_10:8  The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall.
Pro_10:10  He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow: but a prating fool shall fall.
Pro_10:18  He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.
Pro_10:23  It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom.
Pro_11:29  He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.
Pro_12:15  The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.
Pro_12:16  A fool's wrath is presently known: but a prudent man covereth shame.
Pro_13:16  Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge: but a fool layeth open his folly.
Pro_14:16  A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.
Pro_15:5  A fool despiseth his father's instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent.
Pro_17:7  Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.
Pro_17:10  A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool.
Pro_17:12  Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.
Pro_17:16  Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it?
Pro_17:21  He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow: and the father of a fool hath no joy.
Pro_17:24  Wisdom is before him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.
Pro_17:28  Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
Pro_18:2  A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.
Pro_18:6  A fool's lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes.
Pro_18:7  A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul.
Pro_19:1  Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his lips, and is a fool.
Pro_19:10  Delight is not seemly for a fool; much less for a servant to have rule over princes.
Pro_20:3  It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling.
Pro_23:9  Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
Pro_24:7  Wisdom is too high for a fool: he openeth not his mouth in the gate.
Pro_26:1  As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honour is not seemly for a fool.
Pro_26:3  A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back.
Pro_26:4  Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
Pro_26:5  Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.
Pro_26:6  He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet, and drinketh damage.
Pro_26:8  As he that bindeth a stone in a sling, so is he that giveth honour to a fool.
Pro_26:10  The great God that formed all things both rewardeth the fool, and rewardeth transgressors.
Pro_26:11  As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.
Pro_26:12  Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.
Pro_27:3  A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both.
Pro_27:22  Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.
Pro_28:26  He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.
Pro_29:11  A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.
Pro_29:20  Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him.
Pro_30:22  For a servant when he reigneth; and a fool when he is filled with meat;
Ecc_2:14  The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.
Ecc_2:15  Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.
Ecc_2:16  For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.
Ecc_2:19  And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity.
Ecc_4:5  The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh.
Ecc_5:3  For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words.
Ecc_6:8  For what hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living?
Ecc_7:6  For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity.
Ecc_10:2  A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left.
Ecc_10:3  Yea also, when he that is a fool walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a fool.
Ecc_10:12  The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.
Ecc_10:14  A fool also is full of words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?
Mat_5:22  But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Luk_12:20  But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Heb. 13:5

These words were, in sum, spoken to Joshua, Jos_1:5 : “As I was with Moses, so will I be with thee; I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” They were spoken also by David to Solomon, 1Ch_28:20 : “David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed; for the Lord God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” The apostle, in referring to the same promises, feels authorized to use them in giving encouragement to Christians going through trials and persecutions. 

However, a word of clarification; these promises are spoken for those who have chosen to walk with God, and follow His ways. The wicked, the rebellious, the mocker-will find no solace in these verses, because they can only be taken hold of by faith. Those who love this world, and its patterns, have no desire to allow God to guide them or counsel them; they are their own god. The promises of God find a home in the hearts of those who are willing to be led, and corrected by the Word of God.

Paul's words here are an unspoken reference of Jesus' words of exhortation and comfort in Matthew 6:25-34, to take no thought of our life, what we will eat, what we will wear, that God feeds the fowls of the air, and we can't change our stature-this is in God's hands, and God clothes the lilies of the field, and even Solomon was not arrayed better than these. The lesson-God's promises are sure, put away worry. Trust in the Lord, He will not fail us.

Mat 6:25  Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 
Mat 6:26  Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 
Mat 6:27  Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 
Mat 6:28  And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 
Mat 6:29  And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 
Mat 6:30  Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 
Mat 6:31  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 
Mat 6:32  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 
Mat 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 
Mat 6:34  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. 
​
These promises are also made to those who are patiently bearing affliction or persecution for Christ’s sake; and may be applied to any faithful soul in affliction, temptation, or adversity of any kind. Trust in the Lord with your whole heart, and never lean to your  own understanding; for he hath said, “No, I will never leave thee; not I: I will never, never cast thee off.”

​INSPIRING EXHORTATIONS

So, in summary, we can learn these lessons, and take them as food for our life:
​
Commit your way to God. The evil, the trouble, the anxiety of each day as it comes, is sufficient without perplexing the mind with restless cares about another day. It is uncertain whether you will live to see another day. If you do, it will bring its own trouble, and it will also bring the proper supply of your needs. God will be the same Father then as today, and will make then, as he does now, proper provision for your wants.

Tomorrow will have anxieties and cares of its own, but it will also bring the provision for those cares. Though you will have needs, yet God will provide for them as they occur. Do not, therefore, increase the cares of today by borrowing trouble from the future. Do your duty faithfully now, and depend upon the mercy of God and his divine help for the troubles which are yet to come.

Desire nothing more than what God has given you; and especially covet nothing which God has given to another man, for this is the very spirit of robbery.

The duty of prayer is urged by every consideration. None but God can provide for us; none but He can forgive, and guide, and support us; none but He can bring us into heaven. He is always ready to hear us. The humble He sends not empty away. Those who ask receive, and they who seek find. 

Do not be anxious about the supply of your needs, whether of body, mind, or heart. God knows what you need. If He has given life, will He not maintain it? Does He not care for the birds and flowers? Did He not give His Son, and will He withhold any good? Trust Him and be at peace.

Finally, this verse from Paul, gives sound counsel to us, to guide us in the way of peace:
Php 4:6  Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 
Php 4:7  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 
Lorna Couillard

​Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you,
​than he that is in the world. 1Jn 4:4

​The battle against the devil has been long, and your down for the count. When the Christian soldier has been in the conflict for extended periods of time, the devils minions are right there to use every tactic at their disposal to finish you off. 

And, also being "the accuser of the brethren", he'll use every mistake you've made from weariness, as fodder to point his bony finger, and drown you in condemnation. It's at this very point, that the Word of God is the critical weapon we must learn to use, and use it with skill, to defeat the arrows and flamethrowers that come at us from the enemy.
​
When we come to the end of ourselves, this is when the Holy Ghost can implant His word into us, and it will spring up like a fountain, to refresh, renew, strengthen, and wash away the sins that easily beset us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful, and just to forgive us from our sins. It will put light on the area we need to allow the Lord to correct us, and put us back on the right path-walking again in righteousness, and peace.

There are important points to this verse that we can glean much wisdom and strength from.

I. The motives which good men have to persuade them to adhere to truth and holiness are more powerful than the motives to the contrary. The believing that “Jesus is the Son of God” infers the belief of His doctrine, and consequently of that eminent part of it, the eternal recompense of another world, which, whosoever firmly believes, will be able to resist and overcome all the temptations of this world.
III. Those who sincerely embrace and obey the truth of God have a greater assistance and are acted by a more powerful spirit and principle, than, that which is in the world.
1. There are these two principles in the world, the Spirit of God and the devil, very active and powerful, the one in good, the other in bad men.
2. The Spirit of God which is in good men is greater than he that is in the world: He is more able and ready to assist men to good purposes than the devil is to tempt and help forward that which is evil.
(1) The Spirit of God is more powerful than the devil.
(2) The Spirit of God is as willing to assist men to good purposes as the devil is to the contrary.
(3) The Spirit of God has a more free and immediate access to the minds of good men, and a more intimate conjunction with, and operation upon them, than the devil.

​This profound truth needs to be our main focus: 
​
"But “greater is He that is in you, little children,” for He is the Lord God Almighty. He is strong; and He “strengthens you with might by His Spirit in the inner man; Christ dwelleth in your heart by faith; and you being rooted and grounded in love.” He is strong; and He makes you strong; strong in holding fast the form of sound words, and contending earnestly for the faith once delivered unto the saints; strong in cleaving to the truth as it is in Jesus; strong in your real, personal, close, and loving acquaintance with Him, “whom to know is life eternal.” He who is in you is God; God abiding in you; giving you the Spirit. He is in you; not merely on your side, at your right hand, around you; but within you. He is working in you; so working in you as to secure your safe triumph, in this great fight of truth against error, over the world and him who is in it." (R. S. Candlish, D. D.)

“He that is in you,” refers to God, and” He that is in the world,” refers to the devil; and the first thought that strikes us is that there is no attempt in the Bible to deny or dispute the greatness of Satan.

I. First, then, let us consider the greatness of Satan so that we may understand the character of the adversary whom we have to contend with. The Bible represents Satan as the head of a great army of foes. If you examine the Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, you will find there seem to be seven grades of fallen angels, as there are seven grades of unfallen angels. We read of “Principalities,” “Powers,” “Dominions,” “Authorities,” “Rulers,” “Thrones,” “Wicked Spirits,” etc., and above them all, as I believe, there is a rank of arch angels, or chief angels. So we are to imagine Satan as the highest over all the ranks of fallen angels. Suppose that, for instance, one of the provinces or colonies of Great Britain should rebel and cut loose from the parent government; it might carry into its rebellion all its officers, from its governor-general down to the mayors of its cities, and even its police magistrates; and apparently when this great rebellion took place among the angels of God they carried over into their revolt the ranks they had before rebellion came among them, so that Satan is a chief demon, an evil spirit, a fallen angel of tremendous power. Then, again, Satan has marvelous wisdom and knowledge. He knows how to reach the human soul; he knows how to deceive you and mislead you. 

Yet notwithstanding this, we are bidden to remember that “He that is in you is greater than he that is in the world.” Conceding the greatness of Satan, let us look for a moment at the superior greatness of Jesus Christ. In the first place, Jesus Christ has all power. Satan has great power, but not omnipotence. Christ is not only a God of all power, but He is a God of all wisdom. Satan is very wise, but he is not omniscient, and Christ is. Then Jesus Christ is everywhere present. He is in your heart, and in my heart, and the heart of every disciple, by the Holy Spirit, so that of a true child of God we may still say, “He that is in you is greater than he that is in the world,” since He is the all-powerful, the all-wise, and the all-present God. And, then, remember that Jesus Christ represents perfect holiness, and holiness, like the light of the sun, positively dispels the darkness, that is to say infinite holiness repels evil and drives evil to the wall; and in the great ages to come, when Christ shall be crowned as King, we shall find darkness absolutely dispersed and light pervading the moral universe.
​
II. What is the secret of our possession and exercise of this overcoming power? We are told in this epistle that there are three secrets of overcoming power (1Jn_2:14; 1Jn_3:8-9; 1Jn_3:24). The first secret is, the Word of God abides in you. The second is the seed of God abides in you; and the third is God Himself abides in you. Now look successively at these three secrets. The Word of God is represented in the Scriptures as the “sword of the Spirit,” “a two-edged sword.” A Damascus scimitar has but one sharp edge and a dull back. Hence you can hew with a scimitar, but you cannot thrust with it successfully. But when you have two edges to a sword, and each side is keen, you can cut both ways with such a blade; and the two keen edges unite in one burning point, and you can thrust with such a sword. And so the Word of God is represented as having two keen edges and one burning piercing point. Again, it is represented as a living sword. The Word of God is quick, i.e., alive and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword. Knowing the Word, and having it in your heart, you shall find that Word going forth like a two-edged sword out of your mouth, a living sword, and a powerful sword, that hews men to pieces before God, and lays bare their thoughts and intents. Secondly, the seed of God abides in the child of God. The seed represents the living principle. I suppose you are all familiar with certain great facts of nature. You know how, for instance, in the vegetable world the seed is the most carefully preserved and guarded of all the products of plant life. Here is a little plant growing up and putting out its branches and leaves, and by and by its flowers. The flowers may be very beautiful and very fragrant, and you may value them and consider them the finest products of the plant, but, if I may use such language, the plant does not so regard them. The thing the plant cares most for in the economy of nature is not root nor stem, is not beauty nor blossom, nor even fruit, but seed. Now the seed in the plant and the seed in the animal represents not only the highest products of life, but the means of producing and propagating life, and therefore the seed is the most precious thing in nature. And how significant it is that the principle of life in God which represents the highest perfection of Deity and represents the means by which God’s likeness is reproduced in you and in me is called by the sacred name of “seed,” and we are told that when the seed of God remains in us we feel that we cannot sin. We have a new affinity. We are like a tree planted by the rivers of water with its little spongelets at the end of the roots drinking up the blessed water of life, and making sap of it. That is what John means when he says the seed of God is in the disciple, and he feels that he cannot sin because the seed of God leads him to love the things of God, and hate the things of the evil one. But we are told once more that God Himself abides in us (Joh_14:23). God would have you to feel this great fact, that if Jesus Christ dwells in you by the Holy Spirit, He makes you strong to overcome Satan, as He Himself was strong to overcome Satan in the desert and in the Garden of Gethsemane, and that is the secret of your triumph over evil. We are told that when Hercules was a little baby in his cradle, there were some serpents that came into the room and wound their way into the cradle and tried to sting him, and folding their coils round him to choke the life out of him. But we are told in the fable that with his little hands he just took hold of the necks of these serpents and strangled them to death. God would have you to feel that a little babe in Christ that is rocked in the cradle of the Church, when he comes into contact of the great serpent, the devil, if Jesus is in him, can beat back the serpent, the serpent cannot strangle him. But remember this, that you are only strong when you are on the Lord’s ground, not on the devil’s ground. (A. T. Pierson, D. D.)

This verse brings the truth of the superiority of God over Satan and his evil forces:
1. The power of God is much nearer to us, and much more capable of becoming ours than the power of evil or the devil. We are the children of God through faith in Christ. Ye are under the influence of the Divine Spirit, and have overcome them - your testimony, proceeding from the Spirit of Christ, has invalidated theirs which has proceeded from the influence of Satan; for greater is the Holy Spirit which is in you, than the spirit which is in the world.
2. The greater power of good over us may be seen by comparing those parts or elements of our nature to which good and evil influences respectively appeal. On the one hand, we have the appeal of God, of good, and of truth, to our reason, judgment, and conscience, to the deepest instincts and most fixed principles of the soul, and to love, in itself the strongest element in our nature. On the other hand, the appeal of evil is only to prejudice, passion and selfishness.
​
God, who dwells in your hearts, and by whose strength and grace alone you have been enabled to achieve this victory, is more mighty than Satan, who rules in the hearts of the people of this world, and whose seductive arts are seen in the efforts of these false teachers. The apostle meant to say that it was by no power of their own that they achieved this victory, but it was to be traced solely to the fact that God dwelt among them, and had preserved them by his grace. What was true then is true now. He who dwells in the hearts of Christians by his Spirit, is infinitely more mighty than Satan, “the ruler of the darkness of this world;” and victory, therefore, over all his arts and temptations may be sure. In his conflicts with sin, temptation, and error, the Christian should never despair, for his God will insure him the victory.

Much more could be gleaned from this one verse-but look at the overflowing fountain of power, encouragement, and faith-building counsel has been unpacked from this one verse; and, this is just an example of the never-ending flow of Truth, and wisdom that the Word of God holds, for those who seek for it.

May the reader be blessed, and gain needed strength to endure, and be surprised by the beautiful Presence of God, and His love envelope you.
Lorna Couillard