The
Importance of Variety
This is a simple, but important, Biblical
principal that you need to know. In my
life, I have had to master this principle to survive. The adversary is constantly on my tail because of this web
site. It often makes life exciting and
keeps me spiritually sharp and it keeps me moving. Plus I get a chance to hammer his face into the dirt. “Greater is he that is in us” – “more than
conquerors” we are. That’s what the
Word says. Do you believe it? Believing appropriates – it is required of
every born again believer that he or she believes and acts upon the Word. If you say that you just believe, but you
never ACT on your believing, that is mental ascent and you will receive the
consequences of that mental ascent.
Let all things be done
decently and in order. – I Corinthians 14: 40
Where?
In the Church of the Body of Christ to which you and I belong. If you were to put order to believing, it
would simply be believe and act.
Now, as you believe and act on the rightly
divided Word of God, and you keep the same routines in your life, it can be
said that your every move is predictable.
Right? Now who is the one
whose ministry is to steal, kill, and destroy?
It’s in John 10:10a. No, I’m not
quoting it. You need to research the
Word on your own and make it your own.
Otherwise you become a spiritual hitchhiker living off the teachings of
others and that will only lead to spiritual failure. So I am trying to help you to prevent that.
When Satan can predict your every move, he
is going to set a trap for you. And
watch your confessions. He CANNOT read
your thoughts unless you tell him what you’re thinking. Keep important decisions or plans to
yourself. That means don’t tell
anyone. Why? Because when you voice something, you let the world know what you
are going to do and then the adversary prepares to destroy your plans. Sound familiar? It’s simple so let’s not make it complicated.
This is wisdom that God’s Word will teach
you. There are so many Scriptures
regarding wisdom, that I am just going to pick one from the book of Proverbs.
My son, attend unto my wisdom,
and bow thine ear to my
understanding: – Proverbs 5: 1
Attend to and bow thine ear or listen
intently to His wisdom, God is saying – give it your undivided attention. Also listen to Him when He speaks because He
is the Almighty God knowing everything about what? Every possible area of life.
Why? Because He created
life. Do you see how beautiful that
is? There is so much in just one verse
of Scripture. If God is working in me
to teach you these principles of abundant living, then God surely wants you to listen to what I have to say. Is the true God working within me? You decide.
This type of teaching can be difficult in some ways. I need your trust and especially your
believing. You take a look at some of
the subjects I’ve handled in this Bible Study site. I believe, in some cases, that no one has gone near these topics
due to their detail and difficulty.
REMEMBER, not all revelation regarding the
subject of ‘variety’ is from the wrong god.
But if you are doing habitual actions that can be done differently,
but with the same results, God will let you know, by revelation, to change that
action and take an alternate route. What are some of the warning signs telling you
that you should change or not change an everyday habit to an alternative
method? We are going to review two (2)
warning signs for now and a final third one later.
There hath no temptation taken
you but such as is common to man: but
God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are
able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be
able to bear it. -- I Corinthians 10: 13
You must remember and never forget that whenever you are
temped, IT IS NOT OF THE TRUE GOD! Only
Satan tempts. So if you are TEMPTED to
change your routine, it is always wrong – it is counterfeit revelation. So beware because it is the enemy trying to
trip you up. I’m going to say this
again: If you think you cannot be
tricked, you already have been. The
true God never tempts – again, it’s simple – don’t complicate it. If you are tempted to change a habit, it’s
probably because the habit is not only Godly, but very beneficial to you. Be sharp.
Watch ye and pray, lest ye
enter into temptation. The spirit truly
is ready, but the flesh is weak. – Mark 14: 38
A second warning sign is being ‘bound in the
spirit’. This simply means that
something is holding you back.
Let’s say you are constantly driving to work a certain
way every day. Then for some unknown
reason, you don’t feel comfortable taking that same route. Very possibly, God is trying to get you to
change this same routine. God may be
doing this to try and help you in one or many ways. God could be trying to get you to prevent an accident that He
knows will happen. Remember, God has
foreknowledge and can see the future.
Let’s look at a major mistake that the Apostle Paul made
in his life. Yes, he was human. This shocks some people, but it was never
God’s Will for Paul to go to Jerusalem and he was warned at least five or six
times not to go. Let’s see what Paul
had to say.
And now, behold, I go bound in
the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: --
Acts 20: 22
You see, God always tells you first. If you’re not listening, He gets other
believers to tell you. Then because we
all have free will, we either recognize and act upon the true revelation or we
do not.
What happened to Paul when he got to Jerusalem? He was almost killed and then he was placed
under arrest and thrown in prison. Paul
was never meant to change the routine in his life, at least at that time. He made a mistake by going to Jerusalem bound
in the spirit – something was holding him back, but he went anyway.
When you are about to add some variety in your life
regarding some action or actions, but yet something is holding you back in the
innermost part of your being, DO NOT!
When the true God wants you to apply this variety principle in your life
in some area, believe me, there will be no temptations and you will not feel
anything holding you back. The true God
will make things crystal clear for you.
Let me share my heart with you about my life. Years ago, I took my dog walking up a country trail almost every day. I took the same country road to the highway even though the speed limit was only 25 MPH on that road which was very low for such a road. I was picked up three (3) times on that same road. You think I would have learned after the first time to change my routine. I had a number of different routes I could have taken to get to the highway, but no, I was as stupid as I was stubborn and I paid the price – over $300 in fines and about 10 points on my license. This was all due to the fact that I did not change my routine – a very predictable routine. At this point I must say that variety is a form of preventive believing and that type of believing can often prevent a catastrophe. So, remember, keep variety in your life.
Understand that if you ever make a mistake in this area,
just keep moving. Discouragement is not
of God.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ
Jesus. -- Romans 8: 1
[The verse ends here. The scribe glanced at verse 4 and
wrote the end of verse 4 as part of verse 1].
Believe it or not, condemnation
is sin and you must strive to stay in fellowship with God. It is never a sin to make a mistake – it is
a sin to be afraid to make a mistake.
It is even known in
the secular world that it is wise to, once in a while, change your
routine. If you like to walk through a
park in the late evening, there is a possibility that some criminal is watching
your behavior. Your repetitious
behavior could result in a dangerous situation for you. This principle, that I was taught by a great
man of God, is just plain and simple common sense. At times, principles of walking by the spirit are so simple that
we overlook them.
Now, to help you
decide what ‘variety’ to choose in your life, I have experienced a third and
very deceiving warning sign or action.
This will help you not to
make the wrong decision. No one except
God himself taught me this principle.
I’ve not listened several times and I paid the consequences. Here’s how simple it is and how it works.
Let’s say you
realize you have very little variety in your life and your routine is very
predictable. Little by little, things
are beginning to go wrong. You’re
spiritually sharp enough to see this and you seriously decide to make some
changes – or at least one. Let’s first
go to God’s Word to set the foundation.
This is in reference to the past.
Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind,
and reaching forth unto those things which are before, -- Philippians 3: 13
Let’s work the verse first. The phrase “forgetting those things which are behind” literally
means “to refute or prove them wrong”. A lot here can be surely referring to our
old man ways, however, we can still easily make the mistake of dwelling on the
past after we are born again.
This is a trick of the god of this world and the true God forbids
it. There is no profit in it. We can learn from the past, but we are not
to dwell on it. We are to live for the
present moment as the last part of the verse states.
Now let’s go back to that change we are going to make in
our life. And here’s a trick of all
tricks. YOU’RE
BETTER OFF NEVER TO GO BACK TO SOMETHING YOU
ONCE DID IF THAT ACTIVITY OR ACTION ENDED IN A NEGATIVE WAY. This can be really tricky so I will
give you an example from my own personal experience.
In 1990, I had a great desire to purchase a certain exercise machine called a Soloflex. They were expensive back then and I found a
good used one for $850.00 – it was like new.
I finally got the owner down to $750, put the heavy machine in my car
and took it home. I set up a program
and really enjoyed the workout 3 times a week.
I stayed with it for at least six (6) months. It was great. Then my
wife and I moved into our own new home and during moving and beginning a new
job, my exercise routine was completely disrupted. For some reason, my stride was broke and I just could not get
back into it. The machine just sat
there and seemed to aggravate me. I
just wanted to sell it and finally did at a decent price. When it was gone, I felt a great sense of
relief. Remember, sometimes God just
shuts a door. [See “When God Shuts A Door”.]
Well, guess what I did only about a year ago? I wanted to
change my routine but I made a mistake – a big one. I started to dwell on the past – on my old
Soloflex machine. I found one like
brand new up for sale and I hustled as fast as I could. The owner had to leave the country on his
job. I picked it up for $150.00!! Oh, I was so happy and went ahead to set up
a standard routine once again. Three
months later, I GOT HURT. I kept
pushing and made it worse. About 2
years later, this injury still bothered me.
I kept remembering the principle I am now teaching you and it haunted
me. I felt this injury healing and
tried the machine again and it started to bother me again! I quit and knew I had to sell the
machine. After about a year of trying,
it still sits in the room next door.
Now, at times, God can turn your mistakes around and one
day He did that for me. But be careful
with this subject – that will not always happen. I was able to use this machine after I completely revised the
recommended exercise routine. I MADE MY
OWN ROUTINE – shorter in time and more cautious. It has been working well for me, but I never go near the exercise
that hurt my shoulder. God will cover
for you at times. He will help you with
your mistakes. However, my advice to
you would be to not make them in the first place. By God’s grace, he showed me a way out – but after 3 or 4 years
of problems.
Why am I teaching you the Word of God? Because you cannot understand one single
thing in this whole web site if you cannot discern things from a spiritual
standpoint.
But the natural man [of body and soul] receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. –
I Corinthians 2: 14
Satan is tricky, but you can beat him every time if you
know and apply the Word of God rightly divided in your everyday life and
routine.
Learn how to keep variety in your life and realize that you are more than a conqueror (a super-conqueror) in your life.
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. –
I John 4: 4
I can do all things through
Christ which [who] strengtheth
me. -- Philippians 4: 13
Literal translation according to usage:
“I am ready for everything and equal to
anything through him who infuses inner strength into me.” -- Philippians
4: 13
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