The eighth chapter of Romans has a lot of Happy Christian verses in it, the kind we'd like our kids to memorize. For example:
🐦 1There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
🐦 2The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
🐦 16The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
🐦 37But in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
🐦 39Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
As you read through those, you start feeling pretty good! All of these are promises from a God who cannot lie for everyone who is "in Christ."
If you want to worship with a happy dance, go for it!
But...
There are also verses in this chapter that require some responsibility. To collect on all the promises, there are conditions that must be met. And as you read through these, you will start seeing and gain an understanding of just how the runaway bride messed up.
🐉 6For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.
🐉 7For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God.
🐉 8Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
🐉 12Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation, but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.
🐉 14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
We can know for a fact that KatieLyn did not have her mind set on things of the Spirit on the day that she ran home. Every indication is that she was actually under demonic attack. I am equally certain that she did not recognize that.
Demonic attacks can take different forms. Usually there is some form of pressure involved that will result in uncontrollable urges, depression, panic, or even unnatural giddiness. Acting on such urges can give a person who is under demonic attack a temporary feeling of empowerment.
KatieLyn's mom was angry at me for suggesting a possible demonic attack, but in her reaction she showed me her ignorance of the subject. She acted like only "bad" people can be attacked by demons. Actually the opposite is true. Demons often attack those who are carrying out God's instructions precisely because Satan desires to prevent God's will from being done. The "bad" people do not usually get as fiercely attacked by demons, but are encouraged and sometimes even protected by them in the short-run in order to lure them further down the path of destruction.
Letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. When KatieLyn's mom was provoking fights with her on a regular basis, we can judge those actions according to scripture; the fights did not come from a mind set on things of the Holy Spirit. That leaves two alternatives that we cannot judge: either Gwen set her mind on herself, or she was thinking the thoughts that the devil had put there.
The mind that focuses on human nature is hostile toward God. This is not hard to understand one you realize that man cannot serve two masters. Jesus said that Himself. "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other." KatieLyn decided to love her mother and hate Joe. She ran home to her mother, and has cruelly ignored Joe. Such behavior is a flashing neon sign of immaturity and spiritual ignorance! A marriageable adult understands that he/she is not making a choice between two masters, but I cannot be certain that KatieLyn knew that in her heart. She seems to have known it intellectually, but not emotionally. It most certainly was not helpful for her mom to "joke" that "Joe is taking you away from me!" Not only was it not helpful, it was diabolically manipulative.
As the Weymouth translation puts it, "those whose hearts are absorbed in earthly things cannot please God." And that was KatieLyn's downfall. At the beginning of the courtship, KatieLyn had heard God clearly; God had chosen to put her together with Joe. But once the engagement became official, the demonic attacks began to move her attention and let her heart become absorbed with earthly things. To compound the attack and stop this marriage, Satan attacked KatieLyn's mom too. He got Gwen to convince KatieLyn that looking at the carnal considerations was the wise thing to do. But since "they that are in the flesh cannot please God," we know that was a deceptive lie. We are not under any obligation to consider what our lower nature tells us.
The Lesson
Nothing destroys faith faster or displeases God more than putting our worldly reasoning ahead of what He has already told us or shown us. We have an obligation, but that obligation is to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and to lean not to our own understanding. The advice that KatieLyn got telling her to do otherwise stank. She did not lose her peace because the marriage was the wrong; she lost her peace because her mind was not stayed on God but rather on the cares of this world.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5
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