Confidence

What “things” are you trusting to keep you safe? A revolver in the night stand? A padlock on the door? A fierce doberman? Might never keeps us safe. None of those measure are wrong in and of themselves - in fact, I encourage you to plan for your safety, but never leave the Lord out of the equation.

Another area where we fail is in putting

4. Confidence in the Demonic Realm. And it is easy for us to think that this in ONE are that we have down pat as Christians. Saul might have thought the same thing. 1 Samuel 28:3 tells us

Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land. He had rid the land of all the witches, mediums, he shut down the psychic network.

Just a thought, if those psychics are really that good, why do they need to ask for your credit card numbers?

Saul had rid the land of them. But later in his life, God has anointed David to be the new king, Saul has experienced frustration with knowing people are following David, he longs for God’s approval that has been removed, and you know the story, he turns to the occult. He goes to the witch at Endor.

Never think there is a sin you won’t commit. 1 Corinthians 10:12 warns us So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! I am sure Saul never thought he would turn to the demonic realm. But he did. You might think “I’ll never do that.” But don’t let your self-assurance lead you to pride.

The demonic realm is very active. The media tries to get us to laugh at the idea of witchcraft as funny or cute or innocuous, of very little harm. But the demonic realm is DEADLY!

Those who worry about horoscopes or what the stars have to say will end up going deeper and deeper into the demonic. Psychics, OUIJA boards, seances, witchcraft books.

I have never read a Harry Potter book, but this witchcraft craze has affected the youth of our culture, not just the outcasts. They look to spells and the demonic to give them power. There is a good movie out based on a book by Frank Peretti called “Hangman’s Curse”.

And in many cases, the first step into the demonic is through drug use. Satan uses a whole spectrum of doors to get people to open themselves to the demonic. Don’t think it can’t happen to you. Don’t think it doesn’t happen in Owosso. Don’t think it’s somewhere else.

And one of the smallest ways we build the thinking that leads to this is failing to give God credit. We get a good grade on a test and we say, “boy, I was sure lucky.” As though “luck” had anything to do with it.

Whenever God works for us, we need to be sure to give him the credit. When we don’t, we’ll be led to thinking that “fate” or “chance” was responsible.

The fifth area we fall is putting

5. Confidence in Human Entertainment - when we are troubled or distressed, and we find no other source of confidence, we try to find something to give us relief from our fears. Saul does that as well. He knows God has left him. He knows his time is limited. God sends a troubling spirit to Saul, and Saul’s heart grows heavy. So what does he do? Instead of dealing with the guilt and confessing his sin so he could have a clear conscience, he finds something to ease his spirit.