RR “Guarding our Relationship with the Lord, Part 3” by Jerry Miller

Shavuah Tov,

Jeremiah 31:34 “No longer will each teach his neighbor or each his brother, saying: ‘Know Adonai,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest.” It is a declaration of Adonai, “for I will forgive their iniquity, their sin I will remember no more.”(Italics added)

In my recent RR’s, I have been sharing on principles for guarding our relationship with the Lord.  As we can see in the verses quoted above from the prophet Jeremiah, God’s desire is for us to know Him as a people, walking in a relationship with Him that is real and vibrant.  Our relationship with the Lord is an amazing blessing that we can partake of as those who have responded to God’s love, receiving His gift of eternal life through Yeshua.  Through Him, our eternal destiny is secure, as God has “…rescued us from the domain of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son whom He loves” (Colossians 1:13).  However, even though we have been rescued from satan’s domain, he does still have the ability, in this present age, to interfere with our walk with God.  Thus, we must be guarded against the tactics of the enemy to interfere with our relational pursuit of Yeshua.  So, let’s continue in focusing on some practical helps for guarding and maintaining this relationship.

We have been considering what I refer to as “demonic narratives” that must be recognized and consciously rejected in our daily lives.  I’m referring to narratives that, if embraced, will have the capacity to interfere with our walk with God and our ongoing fellowship with Him.   Thus far, we’ve considered the narratives of unbelief & skepticism as well as fear and anxiety.  What are some other narratives that can be detrimental to our walk with the Lord?

I think an important attitude to be conscious of, and reject, is what I would call, the self-righteous ways of a religious spirit.  I’m referring here to judgmental attitudes that leave us looking down on those who don’t know Yeshua.  Especially as we interact with the lost, it can be a temptation at times to take on self-righteous attitudes toward them.  Now, I’m not suggesting that we should be accepting of sinful behavior.  But I’m simply pointing out that if we give in to a religious spirit, it can leave us critical and judgmental of others.  We must always remember, our calling is to love and serve the lost.  But the truth is, we won’t likely give ourselves to love those we are judging.  The grace for truly loving others will be greatly hindered by our attitudes of judging, and so we must be guarded against that religious spirit that leaves us judging the lost and looking down on them rather than loving the lost.

Another narrative to be rejected is the anger and argumentative ways of what might called a political spirit.  Our culture today is so filled with anger and accusation, and the enemy seeks to use that to pull us out of the Spirit of Yeshua, as we make people our enemy.  Something we must always keep in mind is that it’s our lives and not our arguments that are the primary basis for our influencing others with the testimony of Yeshua’s work of salvation.  Though people may come against us in different ways, the truth is, people are not our enemy.  Our battle is not against flesh and blood.  So, if we allow ourselves to get pulled into worldly anger, and the argumentative ways that anger often leads us into, it will negatively impact our walk with the Lord, not to mention, hindering our testimony.

Let’s consider one more demonic narrative to be aware of.  We must reject the faith-destroying ways of victim thinking.  This will often come in the form of self-pity, but victim thinking can come in many forms.  Sadly, victim thinking is rampant in our culture today.  We must see it as an enemy to our faith.  It robs us of faith and confidence in God, and honestly, I think it robs us of our true identity in Yeshua.  I’m not suggesting that we will never be victimized or wrongly treated.  But experiencing mistreatment does not have to be the determining factor in our personal sense of identity.  There is a difference between being victimized versus embracing an identity of being a victim.  We will never see ourselves as victorious overcomers as long as we see ourselves as victims.  I suspect this is one reason why Sha’ul tells us that “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).  In other words, considering how good God has been to you and me, despite our being undeserving, can anyone’s mistreatment of us even come close to the magnitude of God’s goodness?  I think our greatest defense against victim thinking is to continually nurture a heart of thanksgiving to God for how good He is to us.  One who nurtures a thankful heart will find it difficult to settle into the destructive narrative of victim thinking.  It just does not fit to walk in the attitudes of thanksgiving and self-pity at the same time.  Such attitudes are not compatible.  So, as we continue to grow in our understanding of the victory we’ve been brought into through Yeshua, we will find ourselves giving less credence to the faith-destroying attitudes of victim thinking.

Remember that the enemy’s goal is to hinder us and hold us back in our walk of faith and relationship with God.  May the Lord give us grace for recognizing the devil’s tactics and rejecting them by the power of the Spirit and Word of God.

Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Sun1-Mar-2026 12th of Adar, 5786
Ex 30:11-31:17Isa 2 Pr 2Ac 2(Heb 8)