God vs gods of the universe

I have heard some successful people giving credit to "the universe" for their success over the past few years. At least, they were humble in a way - compared to those who think they are gods themselves. I didn't think of it again after brushing them off as passing encounters. I was not in a position to correct them, since saying something wouldn't do anything other than make our relationship uncomfortable--since most people only pay attention to people who they consider equal or superior in status. A case in point was when I joined a group that practiced all kinds of occultic activities such as Qigong, dark meditation, and teaching on frequencies and vibration which is a belief system that positive energy would attract the best from the universe and that people can experience manifestation through its supernatural energy.

None of those thoughts and activities are new under the sun - except that they are packaged differently and distract our focus away from the actual creator and the author of the universe, the almighty God Himself. I believe that the only goal for Satan, the fallen angel, is to take our eyes off God, the author of our lives, by flashing the counterfeits in the most attractive ways. Exodus 7-12 tells us a story of God's supernatural acts and the copycat of magicians performing the same magical acts. However, they could copy only limited numbers and quickly met their limitations. They had to admit, "This is the finger of God." The counterfeits are no match to the true power of the almighty God. Before coming to Christ, I grew up an atheist, but my mother went to a fortune-teller from time to time. Nobody told me, but after becoming a Christian, I asked my mother not to mention me to the fortune tellers she was seeing. However, she wanted to see what happened, so she asked him about me after her consultation during her subsequent visit. She said that the fortune-teller shook violently upon hearing my name and demanded she leaves his place immediately. Everyone was shocked at his unexpected behavior. My mother came home, shared her experience with us, and declared, “I see that there is God.”

Yoga and Qigong may be great stretching activities if they didn't have spiritual beliefs attached to them. Our bodies are made to move, so stretching and moderate exercise would help preserve our bodies in optimal condition. Mindset - Proverbs 23:7 describes how we are what we think in our hearts: As man thinks, so is he. We can see ourselves as victors like Caleb and Joshua who saw themselves defeating the giants that were in God's promised land, or like those ten spies in Numbers 13 who saw themselves as grasshoppers and who were already defeated in their minds before the battle even began. Another example would be David who pictured himself killing Goliath and made it come to fruition, versus the rest of Israelite soldiers who saw themselves defeated by Goliath even before the battle as described in 1 Samuel 17. What we put in our mind through reading and affirmation shapes our ways of seeing and hearing and will consequently control our destinies. That is why it is crucial that we, God's people, need to be transformed in our mind by reading God's Word and learn to be sensitive to His guidance. Our faith in God will increase as we see how powerful our God is as we continually feast on God's teachings with meditation on His Word and fill ourselves with the Holy Spirit.

God wants His people to be successful, so we can rise and shine the light of Christ that will draw many lost people. Our Success can be defined in different ways and includes not only finances but also, in good relationships, good physical and mental health and so forth. Whatever that might be - how about stress-free abundance for the purpose of this writing? We chase the lure of success, and we sometimes, unintentionally subject ourselves to the counterfeit powers out of desperation at times, due to our ignorance. That is why the Bible warns us in Hosea 4:6 that we perish (spiritually) because of the lack of knowledge. There are many promises of God for abundance in the Bible, but also, many curses as consequences of poor choices. It is our responsibility to know what His will is and His ways and follow that. Seek ye first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto us. (Matthew 6:33) God's people can and should rise and shine -IT IS TIME! . Let's remember - Not by might, not by power but by the Holy Spirit! (Zechariah 4:6)