While doing housework

While I was sweeping the hard wood floors in the house this morning, I was thinking things like: why is it so important to praise God, why He hates disobedience/sin so much, and why it is necessary to praise Him often. Is it because it makes Him feel good? You know, like when someone praises US it makes us feel good, puffed up, or just improves our self-confidence? Since God is love and love is not puffed up, proud, vain, nor seeks it's own (I Cor 13), then that's out.

So many Christians are making the claim: "we're all sinners, no one's perfect."  They justify and rationalize in continuing to do what they want, when they want, and don't want to give up certain sins.  Then where's the fruit in our lives that reveal our change of heart? The Word says we are a new creature in Christ.  "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17 According to their way of thinking, they do believe Jesus died for their sins and therefore are going to heaven, but everything else is irrelevant and unnecessary as long as they "believe" He died for their sins.  That's it - not admitting that we're to repent of our sins when we come to Christ who forgives us of our sins, we turn from our wicked ways. 

"Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" Romans 6:16   As long as they go to the Institutional Church (IC) on Sundays or so, they believe they're "safe".  If we are caught up in a sin that has us bound and we WANT to quit doing it, the Lord wants to set us free from that by the power of the Holy Spirit, and if we need further help, He will reveal those people that can help us with that, too.

"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15 

Satan has been deceiving us and God wants us to be set free and open to know the truth, which we will find in the Word.

We shouldn't still WANT to sin, we should want to please the Lord and follow after Him, we should WANT to be led of the Holy Spirit so that we can walk in newness of life, not like we used to do before we accepted Christ as our Savior, those ways that we hated and wanted to be free of!  Including thoughts of depression, oppression, bondage, thoughts of suicide, rejection, etc, which sinning ends up IN death: spiritual death and sometimes physical death. So this is what came to me as I was sweeping this morning-

God hates disobedience and sin because it's evil and because it opens the door to Satan wreaking havoc in OUR lives, in US.  It damages US.  He is already Holy, Pure, Loving,...sin hurts US and He doesn't want US to be HURT!  We have children, they have children, and THEY will have children.  My prayer is for their GOOD, the BEST of what God has for them.  I pray AGAINST evil to come into their lives. And since I'm not God, and I love my own family, how much MORE does God love US?!

THEREFORE: As we continue to read the Word, which the bible says, Jesus is the Word (think about that one!), and the Bible is the "living word of God", throughout the Bible He speaks against sin (for OUR GOOD) and says to PRAISE HIM (because it also says that when we praise Him, we enter into His gates with thanksgiving in our hearts, and we are hid in Him, we are CLOSE to Him, and HIS PROTECTION)...

Praising God has benefits for us, as well! Our protection, our peace, yes we praise Him because He is worthy to be praised, and we SHOULD praise Him for many reasons, I'm talking here about what He wants for us because He loves us so much and wants us to NOT OPEN DOORS THAT WILL GIVE SATAN PERMISSION INTO OUR LIVES.  And praise also defeats the enemy in our lives.  When we're praising the Lord and have thanksgiving in our hearts, we're defeating the oppression of the devil and we're not dwelling on evil negative thoughts. 

We must be aware of what Satan is capable of, be aware of our Enemy.  How can we just believe in God and ignore Satan, the ruler of this world?  I didn't say he OWNS this world, he is the RULER.  We need to be wise as serpents, gentle as doves. 

"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." Revelation 12:11