The typical church and pastor preaches that once a person asks Jesus to come into their hearts that they are saved so then the next step is to disciple them so that they know more about the Bible and do some good works for Jesus.  Some of them get into teaching at church or leading small Bible groups, helping with worship or music, go on mission trips, etc.  Some get filled with the Holy Spirit, speak in tongues, prophesy over others, cast out demons from people, do many miracles for the Lord.   What great Christians these people are, right?  But according to the Bible (Matthew 7:21-23) it states that many of these Christians will not get into heaven.  Why?

Matthew 7:21-23 NKJV

I Never Knew You

²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Sadly I know of many who would call themselves Christians, attend church, pray in tongues, prophesy, even casting out demons and doing miracles yet treat their own spouse and children harshly, getting angry with them, cursing at them, walking in pride and arrogance, looking at pornography or having sexual relations with people they are not married to, trying to force others to do what they want and not what God wants, criticizing others constantly, lying and gossiping often and being overly jealous and selfish.  Why?  Why would a so-called Christian who has attended church for 10-30+ years behave in such ways?  What does the Bible say about people who behave more in the flesh than having the fruit of the spirit?

Galatians 5:16-26 NKJV

Walking in the Spirit

¹⁶ I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, ²¹ envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. ²⁴ And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

So the Bible says that Christians who behave in these fleshly ways will not inherit the kingdom of God.  They will not go to heaven.

So apparently Christians who are struggling to live out godly fruit are doing so because of why? Most likely it is because they were hurt when growing up in their soul (their mind, will and emotions) – some from their father, some their mother, or both, hurt by other people, some from sexual violations through seeing porn, being touched sexually, molested, raped, etc.   When a person gets hurt (emotionally, physically or sexually) then they will often think about the injustices that happened to them.  The demons will speak to them in their thoughts often hundreds or more times a day getting them to be angry, and not truly forgiving those who hurt them from their hearts.  What happens if we refuse to truly forgive a person who hurt us from our hearts?

Jesus said:

Matthew 6:14-15 NKJV

¹⁴ “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

So if we have unforgiveness for others who sinned against us then God will not forgive our sins.

So demons want to hurt us through having other people hurt us and then having us never forgive them with our hearts.  Then demons have legal rights to continue to give us thoughts that are not true in order to keep us in our hatred, anger and bitterness for others.

Hebrews 12:14-15 NKJV

¹⁴ Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: ¹⁵ looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;

So what the church and pastors need to focus on once a person asks Jesus to come into their hearts (making a profession of faith to serve Jesus) is to have them go through a soul wound healing process to help them get delivered of any legal rights that demons have to torment them.

They need to take them back to all their wounds from those who hurt them (their father, mother, other relatives, other people) and have Jesus speak to them about each person who hurt them so they can see them from the Lord’s perspective and truly be able to see that they all were also hurt by other people and that we need to do what Jesus did as He was dying on the cross.

Luke 23:34 NKJV

³⁴ Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

And they divided His garments and cast lots.

When we truly forgive all those who hurt us from our hearts – then that removes the legal rights of the demons to torment us and then we can command the demons to go to the pit.  We will then not hear hundreds or thousands of negative thoughts a day (2005 National Science Study stated that some people have 12,000 or more thoughts a day of which 80% are negative and 95% the same thoughts they have every day).  We will then be able to change to exhibiting the fruit of the spirit like Jesus every day.  Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  We will be able to walk in humility and not pride (which got Lucifer kicked out of heaven).  We will be able to walk in righteousness, sexual purity, holiness, like Jesus.

So once a person asks Jesus to come into their hearts, the next step must be to pursue getting their soul wounds healed and demons delivered.  Then they will be able to behave like a Christian – a true Christ follower.  Then they can treat their spouse and children the way Jesus would want them to.  They can help love on other people who are hurting so they will want to be a Christ follower as well.  They are authentic like Jesus was. They are able to not have any idols before the Lord. There are way too many church goers who have fruit of the flesh and no fruit of the spirit.  It is time to pursue being Christlike and not living like the rest of the world.