II Corinthians 4:4
Satan, who is the god of this world (or age) has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. They are unable to SEE the glorious light of the Good news. They don't understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
A mind that is blind?
A force that can literally stifle and cut off life giving information, knowledge, and understanding that would aid someone in breaking free from the darkness they are currently living in.
Sounds like something out of a science fiction magazine, doesn't it.
Mind control......
Brain washing.....
Yet it is a reality that is battled everyday when dealing with people who are trapped in their addiction.
They see, but they can't make sense of it.
They hear, but it does not register.
They can quote to you chapter and verse of the Big Book, but they just can't live it.
It takes something beyond our own capabilities to bring us out of the darkness that has been placed upon us by the devil and his minions.
IT takes a Step #2 God to break off the hardness of heart and mind so that we can receive the life giving truth of the Good News.
The death and resurrection of Jesus is the very thing that opens us up to a new way of living.
I now it sounds like Twilight Zone stuff....
That an event that took place over 2000 years ago, still has the power and potential to change my life here in 2016.
Not just change my life and my future, but change me.
Change the way I view my situations and circumstances.
Change the way I feel about others around me.
Change the very desires of my heart.
To do such would require a power that was not found in myself.
That power is found in a person, and that person is Jesus.
Jesus told his followers in John 14:6 that He was "The Way, The Truth, and the Life". There in the middle of "way" and "Life" is truth. Truth is the reality of who Jesus is and what He has promised to do, in spite of what this world may have done to us. Jesus didn't proclaim Himself to be "A" truth...or "Some" truth....or even one of many truth's. He laid it out simple and hard. "I - Am - THE - TRUTH!" Take it....leave it....receive it....or reject it.
So why do some receive this message of change, and some don't?
Why are some so undone by this truth, that they gladly turn over will and life to Jesus, while others never miss a smack of their gum and continue on down their hell-path?
I don't know that I have an answer other than to say that I'm sure it has something to do with this free-will God gave us.
Couple this with the spiritual state of a person's heart and it may simply be a case of buying into a lie that is refused to be given up even when the Holy Spirit comes upon a person. This doesn't mean that Satan has more power to deceive than God does to save. What it does mean is that sin/addiction is a powerful tool used by Satan to lock the minds, hearts and spirits of people up so that they won't hear the truth.
Such is why we are called to be light to those around us....
Light is a power that reveals the lies of the enemy.
At the same time, light lets us see ourselves as we really are...
All the warts and scabs...the skint places and the open wounds that have brought pain in our emotions and thoughts.
At the same time, this light/truth points us to the ultimate healer...Jesus.
Think on these things today....
mbb
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