The third thing that The Lord brings up challenging a true & right relationship with Him is the contamination of TRUTH with all sorts of ideas;practices;behaviors;& paradigms that do not resonate with God’s Word given to us by HIM, so that we will know what absolute TRUTH TRULY IS & it’s rewards.Revelation 2:13-15 says many people will “claim” to have faith in Christ,& hold fast to that “claim”, yet their minds/hearts/lives will reveal the TRUE state of their faith-“‘I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is.Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.” In other words, GOD knows that we live in a world that is at war for the souls of all people! GOD’S awesome Mercy & Grace for us fully appreciates the challenges we all have in staying true to a Right Faith in HIM.HE also knows when our Faith in HIM is threatened by a creeping away from a True & Right Faith, & toward a faith that is based on mixing what is True & Right with the influences of Satan’s current presence in the world.Satan knows what Absolute Truth is,& he knows that Absolute Truth ultimately reveals God’s Glory & and our need for God’s Glory to save us from the wiles of Satan’s propaganda that is vying with Absolute Truth.This war for our minds/hearts/lives is a real and present danger for us that God is lovingly making us aware of by revealing this third challenge we face.Romans 1:18-20 also addresses it,”For the wrath of God(God’s Righteous Judgement of Truth vs UNtruth;Righteousness vs UNrighteousness)is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”So, we must constantly be aware of the battles going on around us over Absolute Truth...,Truth which Reverence for Almighty God and His Word are the foundation-Proverbs 1:7,”The fear of (awesome reverence for) the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (absolute Truth),but fools despise wisdom and discipline.”This says that True Wisdom must be assimilated into and through our lives = discipline! Believing God’s Truths without applying God’s Truths in all we are is exactly the danger of this third challenge!Unless we make God’s Truths an integral part of all we are (discipline),then this 3rd challenge will draw us away from a Right & True relationship with The Lord....and a creeping toward a faith based on a “mixed bag of half-truths-half-lies”.That is what this 3rd challenge is about.This creeping may begin with lives/disciplines that are made mushy and muddy by lack of the discipline Proverbs 1:7 calls us to.

If we heed the warnings that Revelation 2:13-15 talks about,& we discipline our ideas;practices;behaviors;& paradigms...,our hearts/minds/lives with the Absolute Truths that God has made clear through all HE has done and said throughout all time, then HE promises to take care of our absolute needs and bless us with an Eternal Identity that will define who & what we were created by Almighty God to be forever->Revelation 2:17,”Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.”There is no greater TRUE Peace and TRUE Joy than this....all others will never be as Lasting,nor as Deeply & Truly Fulfilling.Therefore, we need to always be truing up what we hear;see;read;& experience & do with God’s Word and all that HE has shown and proven throughout all time.This is the 3rd challenge! Dear Lord,please help me to know whenever a creep of any kind begins in me...may You also place people around me that are devoted to You, and love me enough to make me aware of any slow changes/creeping away from Absolute Truth occurring in the way I think and live.And through Your Grace May I be the same for those around me.