July 20, 2025

How Do I Know If I’m Really Saved?

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐖𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐤𝐞? 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐃𝐨 𝐖𝐞 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝?⁣⁣⁣
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Some time ago, the Holy Spirit revealed to me that our desire—what we want—is the test of whether we have God’s heart.⁣⁣⁣
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Our desire indicates our salvation and status as God’s children.⁣⁣⁣
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The children of God desire God.⁣⁣⁣
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We may have many battles, but this is the war: 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐆𝐨𝐝.⁣⁣⁣
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The Holy Spirit is again providing a fuller picture of what that means.⁣⁣⁣
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It began with an observation in The Parable of The Ten Talents or Minas recorded in Matthew 25 and Luke 19. The account in Luke includes a curious detail not found in Matthew: the bookends of Luke 19:14 and Luke 19:27.⁣⁣⁣
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Before and after the master charges the servants with their work, gives them the necessary resources, and evaluates them, we find these two verses:⁣⁣⁣
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Luke 19:14⁣⁣⁣
“𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨, ‘𝘞𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘶𝘴.’”⁣⁣⁣
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Luke 19:27⁣⁣⁣
“‘𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘦.’”⁣⁣⁣
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What the Holy Spirit set ablaze in my heart about both verses is the people’s rejection of the master’s kingship.⁣⁣⁣
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So what does it truly look like to desire God?⁣⁣⁣
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The true indication of whether I desire God is whether I want Jesus as King.⁣⁣⁣
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𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝.⁣⁣⁣
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The litmus test of whether I’m truly saved is whether I am eager for Jesus to be my King and want Him to rule over me.⁣⁣⁣
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1 Corinthians 12:3⁣⁣⁣
“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵.”⁣⁣⁣
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The phrase “𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵” is not just about saying the words. It’s about a posture of adoration and submission.⁣⁣⁣
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The heart posture is the chief thing, and I think we would do well to take counsel from the thief on the cross that all our theology must harmonize with.⁣⁣⁣
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Luke 23:42⁣⁣⁣
“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴, ‘𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘥𝘰𝘮.’”⁣⁣⁣
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Cultural Christianity, easy believism, and dead orthodoxy (all products of the industrial church) readily embrace a far away, father-like God to whom we can respond only emotionally. But where it gets real and contentious is when God demands the throne—even more so when He comes as a real person to assert those demands.⁣⁣⁣
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God and His kingdom are 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞. He is King, represented in the person of Jesus Christ. To accept Him as Father but not as King is not to accept Him at all.⁣⁣⁣
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1 John 2:23⁣⁣⁣
“Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”⁣⁣⁣
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The right posture of the heart is 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞—two sides of the same coin, such that our obedience indicates whether we have any real love at all.⁣⁣⁣
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John 14:15⁣⁣⁣
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.”⁣⁣⁣
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It’s not enough to adore Him,⁣⁣⁣
Nor even to do His works (Matthew 7:22),⁣⁣⁣
But to want to—because you love Him as King.⁣⁣⁣
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If we truly see Jesus for who He is, we will want Him to reign.⁣⁣⁣
𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬.⁣⁣⁣
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If that’s you—𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐝! You’re a real one.⁣⁣⁣
That’s the work of the Holy Spirit, making you God’s child through faith in Jesus Christ.⁣⁣⁣
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If that’s not you, but you’re convicted reading this—𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐝!⁣⁣⁣
Being aware that you don’t have a heart that wants Jesus to reign, and 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘵, is also the work of the Holy Spirit, drawing you to become God’s child through faith in Jesus Christ.⁣⁣⁣
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Even if you don’t have that heart, you can pray for it with confidence—because 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭.⁣⁣⁣
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Luke 12:32⁣⁣⁣
“𝘋𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳, 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘥𝘰𝘮.”⁣⁣⁣
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𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐝: 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮.⁣⁣⁣
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#DoYouWantJesusAsKing #TheRealBattleIsDesire #desire #kingship #spiritualwarfare #perfectourlove

March 30, 2025

Give Me A Heart To Follow You

I’m a goat at times,

too smart for my own good,

stiff-necked and belligerent,

refusing to move unless I want to, until I think it’s safe, until I know where we’re going and why.

I repent.

Lord Jesus, help me to be Your sheep that says,

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;

FOR YOU ARE WITH ME…”
— Psalm 23:4

Help me follow Your voice because You love me, because I love You and because all I want is to be where You lead.

Amen.

#perfectourlove #desireGodalone #therealbattle

March 30, 2025

The Danger Of Any Other Desire

The road to hell is paved with “there’s nothing wrong with…”

How many times have you heard that?

Countless.

How many times have you heard “desire nothing besides God”?

Maybe a few.

Take the narrow road.

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
— Matthew 7:13-14

They say, “There’s nothing wrong with money, it’s the love of money…”

Why then does Jesus refer to money as “unrighteous” mammon in Luke 16:9 and 11?

Why then does Peter refer to money as “filthy lucre” in 1 Peter 5:2?

Why then does Jesus warn us against the “deceitfulness of riches” in Matthew 13:22 and Mark 4:19?

Whatever we set our hearts on moves it.

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
— Luke 12:34

Money is not inert.

Money is part of a system. It’s currency.

Money pushes and pulls. When we set our eyes on money (or anything else) to desire it, we fall into the bondage of sin.

Does this mean we can’t or shouldn’t have money?

I can have anything, I just can’t want it.

THAT is why money is described as unrighteous, so that I maintain a healthy suspicion of it and avoid its allure.

It’s a lure.

“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”
— 1 Corinthians 6:12

The real battle is desire.

Desire God alone and resist giving other things power over you.

I couldn’t have understood this just five years ago, because on some level, I believed that God was the means to achieve goodness and abundance.

But that is the lie.

God is everything good. There is nothing desirable beyond Him.

He IS all that I desire. (Psalm 73:25)

Everything else is a deception and leads to destruction. (James 1:16-17)

Jesus said the greatest commandment is,

“And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”
— Mark 12:30

Ask, seek and knock for a heart that desires God alone.

#perfectourlove #therealbattle #desireGodalone

March 30, 2025

Victory Over Desire

The real battle is desire.

Jesus is plainly giving us the keys that unlock everything.

But we miss it because of what we want.

This frustrated Jesus. He exclaimed,

“Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.”
— John 8:43

Then, He explains,

“You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.”
— John 8:44

The real battle is desire.

Jesus continues in John 8:44 saying,

“He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

The beginning.

Adam and Eve had everything—goodness and abundance in the presence of God. They lost it because they were deceived into wanting something else.

“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.”
— Genesis 3:6

The problem is we want a lie.

And, Satan is the father of it.

But what the first Adam lost, the second Adam reclaimed through the biggest flex in history.

“I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.”
— John 14:30

In other words, Jesus was saying, there was no desire for anything else in Him for the enemy to manipulate.

Jesus desires God alone.

We lose the Truth when we want a lie.

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
— James 1:16-17

This is why the WHOLE work is believing God rather than Satan.

“Then they said to Him, ‘What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.'”
— John 6:28-29

What are we to believe? What Jesus says about God.

Why? So that we desire God alone.

When that’s our heart it naturally produces the work of God: being with Him.

And, how do we be with Him?

Through Communion with Him and all that belongs to Him.

So, the goal is being with Him and the means are helping others to be with Him—the ministry of reconciliation.

The main enemy that hinders that is our desire.

Any desire other than God is sin and causes division, making us an enemy of God.

“He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.”
— Matthew 12:30

Through Christ we have goodness and abundance in the presence of God.

Don’t lose it by wanting a lie.

The real battle is desire.

Lord, I repent!

I want other things that hinder my enjoyment of You. Reveal them to me that I may surrender them to You.

Father, please give me Your heart—the heart of Your Son, Jesus Christ—that desires You, alone.

Signed with the authority given to me by Jesus for His business.

Amen.

#perfectourlove #therealbattle #desireGodalone

March 24, 2025

Realizing the Wonderful Work of the Wilderness

Money’s tight. Somehow in my mind that has come to mean I’m a failure. As I pray, looking for a way out, God shows me this is why He led me into the wilderness: sanctification. He allows me to walk in circles to kill off the Egypt in me that would even think in those terms. I will wander until I’m perfectly content being with Him wherever I am.

“Now godliness with contentment is great gain.”
– 1 Timothy 6:6

Then, and only then, am I truly free to have other things without them having me (1 Corinthians 6:12).

Am I growing spiritually? That’s the measure.

I believe I am growing spiritually, and that it has resulted in more life in me and my relationships. That’s success.

I’m not settling though.

I am still moving toward the full consummation of His kingdom, which includes His sufficiency. But the key difference is that my desire is for Him—not His sufficiency. And because I have Him, I’m satisfied wherever I am along the journey and content to wait for however He may provide (Psalm 23).

I am striving to make God all that I want. And I want all of Him in whatever form that comes.

#perfectourlove #DesiringGod #spiritualwarfare #TheRealBattle #desire

March 23, 2025

The Real Battle Is Our Desire

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - The Real Battle Is Desire

I prayed and asked,

“Jesus lived without sin, but how?”

I believe the divine response was,

“because He desired nothing besides the Father.”

Jesus was fully God and fully man. And, though He was fully man, His singular desire for the Father kept Him in perfect obedience to the Father and in harmony with His divine nature.

We who have received His divine nature can—by His grace: His nature, His power, and His guidance—walk in obedience to the Father as He did.

But why don’t we walk perfectly in obedience? Why do we repeatedly fall into sin?

Meet your opponent: your desire.

“But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
— James 1:14-15

What did Jesus have that allowed Him to walk in perfect obedience that we should also diligently strive for?

A singular, undivided, uncompromising desire for God alone. We should desire nothing besides God.

But, what does that look like?

Imagine a circle representing the Kingdom of God, and imagine within that circle another circle representing the life of Jesus Christ. Now include another intersecting circle representing the life of Peter.

When Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ this is represented by the part of Peter’s circle that intersects with the Kingdom of God. But when he attempts to convince Jesus not to die, this represents the part of Peter’s circle that is outside the Kingdom of God.

All the while, all of Jesus is within the Kingdom, including how He must die, and He rebukes Peter for tempting Him to go outside the circle of God’s Kingdom (His will), which is sin.

One of the biggest takeaways should be even though Peter was coming from an undoubtedly genuine place of care and kindness for someone he loved, it was ultimately evil because Peter’s desire was misplaced, and if followed, would have damned us all—just like the original Adam.

This is what God is dealing with me on. He has brought me to a point in my walk where my goal is to desire nothing besides God.

Lord, make me a man after Your own heart!

Does this mean I don’t love my family, my brothers and sisters in Christ, or you?

Remember the earlier Scripture from James 1:14-15? Read the very next verses:

When God is our sole desire, we love what is in and we love from within God.

“If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”
— 1 John 4:20-21

That’s loving what’s in God.

“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, “that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
— Matthew 5:44-45

And, that’s loving from within God.

The goal is union rather than intersection—for God to be our whole desire, with nothing outside.

This is a picture of perfection, and the means of acquiring it: the heart God gives—Christ’s heart—that desires God alone.

The real battle is desire, and the stakes couldn’t be higher—our endless, unhindered enjoyment of God starting right now.

#perfectourlove #spiritualwarfare #TheRealBattle #desire

March 22, 2025

How Interruptions Reveal Our Heart

When we say what the reason is for the things that we do, what comes first in our lives, and when we say things like, “We do what we do for our kids” or, “We’re keeping God first”, we often deceive ourselves. It is often a vicious lie—a good face to rationalize and justify our real, selfish and evil motives; a totem to mask our idols and the demons that we serve.

The hearts we’re born with, being powerless to resist deception, become agents of deception—a medium of the propaganda of and a means of control for the prince of the power of the air, “deceitful above all things, desperately wicked”—and are therefore not to be trusted.

So, how can we discern the real reasons for the things that we do and what is actually first in our lives?

Interruptions and our reaction to them.

Interruptions and what they elicit in me—irritation, anger, frustration, annoyance, hate—reveal my true priorities and what I’m really seeking.

Whatever is being interrupted is a greater priority than the interruption.

I own a business. I started it to provide for my family.

One day I was picking up my son from school. He may have been in kindergarten at the time. As we were walking to the truck, my son, with a backpack almost bigger than he was, was dawdling about, walking listlessly. But I was in a rush to get to my next appointment and I yelled at him, “Would you come on here?!” I remember how that frightened him by the sudden startled look in his eyes, as the rushed spirit in me became the rushed spirit in him.

I cry writing this.

And as I think back, his little face indicated that he had something on his mind, but I missed that because, my son, someone I truly love—the one who I claimed to be working for—in that moment became the interruption.

How?

Lies block love.

My heart was not guarded and I fell prey to the lying suggestions about what I should want according to this world: who I should be, what I should be doing, what I should have, and it established in my heart a new pursuit.

And just that quick, the lies supplanted what should have been my priority in that moment—my son—by subtly seeding a desire for a different one. It’s that insidious.

I was made aware of it by the grace of God that allowed me to see a priority that I had allowed to become an interruption.

The guard we have against this now is the same guard there’s been since the dawn of man—loving God which is obedience to His Word.

The way we combat the deception of our hearts is by loving God—by abiding in Christ, who is the living Word.

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
— Hebrews 4:12

In His presence, all the shadows of our hearts are illuminated and our hidden motives are brought to light. The ultimate battle is to resist competing, deceptive and corrupting “loves” which is anything besides God. And as we seek to love God alone—with all our heart, mind, soul and strength—He rightly orders everything else so those things that should be priorities no longer become interruptions.

#perfectourlove

Paul Luckett

Proceed with caution. Visibility is limited.

Tag Archives: the real battle

How Do I Know If I’m Really Saved?

Give Me A Heart To Follow You

The Danger Of Any Other Desire

Victory Over Desire

Realizing the Wonderful Work of the Wilderness

The Real Battle Is Our Desire

How Interruptions Reveal Our Heart