Things are not what they appear to be

Proverbs 3:5 (AMP) writes to us Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. And further down in verse 13 it is written Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding. There are certain times in our lives when things are not what they appear to be. Have you ever heard the expression if the walks like a duck, and talks like a duck ..it must be a duck. Not so to us as believers. We live by faith and not by sight. Our reality is NOT what we see but what we believe.
The first time we take notice of things not always appearing to be what they seemed to be is in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 2 v. 17 God commanded the man not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die. That to me meant eating from that tree was not a good thing based on the word from God..right?
Later on in Chpt. 3 v. 6 the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom and she took some and ate it. So at this point we can say that Eve made a decision based on what she saw that it was ok to eat the fruit and that God must have been mistaken in what He had said. The flip side in this seeing is {not} believing notion is the story of the 3 Hebrew boys in Daniel chpter 3. These men were thrown in the fiery furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar for not worshipping his image of gold. Verse 23 writes that the 3 men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace. Later on in v. 25 the king sees in the fire not 3 men but 4 men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and he says the fouth looks like a son of the gods. The 3 men are called out of the fire. And in v. 27 it says that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair on their heads singed, their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them. Wow!Hallelujah! The only real thing the fire did was burn the robes that they were tied with. Right there in the fire with them was the Lord. And on top of all that was the fact that others were as well witnessing the Lord show Himself Mighty on their behalf. It is with us as well that the fire we are in is only to burn away the bondage, oppression and whatever there is that is attached to us that doesn't honor God. Again I say that We live by faith and not sight. The bible says Let nothing move you. I will not be moved away from my position of faith by theses temporary natural conditions. There is a song by Donnie McClurkin called Stand. In it he says When you have done all you can you just stand. Don't pay attention to the circumstances and people that try to speak to you that you are never coming out of your situation. Do not let them try and sway you to a place of unbelief and doubt. Romans 3:4 (KJV) Let God be true, but every man a liar. I believe God. I trust beyond anything else in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit guides me into all truth. We must decree and declare that according to 1 Cor. 2:9 No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. Be Blessed, Manie