noise
noun
1. sound, especially of a loud, harsh, or confused kind: deafening noises.
2. a sound of any kind: to hear a noise at the door.
3. loud shouting, outcry, or clamor.
4. a non-harmonious or discordant group of sounds.
So expanding this definition to Spiritual noise, one can infer that it is a loud, hard and confused kind usually led by either 1) our old sin nature (past sins, temptations and son on) or 2) demonic influence. There is Spiritual warfare, whether we want to acknowledge or deny it. We read in Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. This past week, as I have been preparing my heart for Easter Weekend, I have been listening to The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis and I have also been reading the Book of John.The central theme that I have taken from both readings is that God loves us so much that He gave us His only Son. That He sent Jesus to atone for our sins by death on an old rugged cross. That Jesus was born of a virgin, raised on this earth, died on a cross and in three days he rose again and now sits at the right hand of God. I have also read that the devil hates the Family (whether spiritual or biological). The evil one wants nothing more than to destroy everything that is good and from God. The devil wants to destroy the family.
How do you no whether or not you have spiritual noise in your life:Sexual immorality (anything impure or lustful)
Impurity
Sensuality
Idolatry (of TV, Sports, Travel-League Sports, Hobbies and anything that comes before God that distorts truth in your life)
- Sorcery
- enmity
- Strife
- Jealousy
- Fits of Anger
- Rivalries
- Dissensions
- Divisions
- Envy
- Drunkenness
- Orgies
- And the things like the list above
Some relevant quotes from The Screwtape Letters that highlight Spiritual Noise:
- “Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts,...Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape.”
- “It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.”
- “The more often he feels without acting, the less he will be able ever to act, and, in the long run, the less he will be able to feel.”
- “Suspicion often creates what it suspects.”
- “Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels that he is finding his place in it, while really it is finding its place in him.”
- “Nothing is very strong: strong enough to steal away a man's best years not in sweet sins but in a dreary flickering of the mind over it knows not what and knows not why, in the gratification of curiosities so feeble that the man is only half aware of them, in drumming of fingers and kicking of heels, in whistling tunes that he does not like, or in the long, dim labyrinth of reveries that have not even lust or ambition to give them a relish, but which, once chance association has started them, the creature is took weak and fuddled to shake off.”
How much noise do you have in your life? What do you plan on doing about it? How can you get help? Why join a men's bible study?
Thoughts?
Dante