4 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will ABANDON THE FAITH AND FOLLOW deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 1 Timothy 4:1
Right in the middle of his first letter to Timothy, Paul introduces a warning from God’s Spirit and it’s primarily addressed to those in ‘later or last times’; these days? Some people will ‘Abandon and Follow’ false teaching, or teachers. The enemy doesn’t just want to get people off God’s path, he wants to get them onto a completely wrong path, moving away from God’s love in Christ.
2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.
Demons are spirit beings without physical bodies, so they need people to operate through and spread their deception. Paul uses an interesting metaphor to describe these people, firstly they are liars, but ‘their consciences have been seared (scarred) as though with a hot iron’. It’s possible for our consciences to become hardened and insensitive to the Truth and the Spirit. We may no longer feel remorse or repentance for wrong doings. We all have blind spots where the enemy can get access and we believe they’re our thoughts or ideas. These people have gone further, they’ve rejected God and because He allows us free will, He won’t overrule us.
27 The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord,
Searching all the inner depths of his heart. Proverbs 20:27
It’s very important to listen to and follow the promptings of our spirits, God speaks to us in our hearts. Continually ignoring these inner prompts will dull our sensitivity to the leadings of God’s Spirit in our lives.
3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.
Our lives in Christ were never meant to be a series of ‘Do’s and Don’ts’, Regulations or Laws. God wants fellowship with us here, we’re being fitted now to be taken into Glory with Him. Stay Sweet in your Soul and cultivate sensitivity to the prompts of the Spirit in our lives.
God bless and keep you today.