Tag Archives: enemy

MOLLY AND ME – NEUTRALISING THE ENEMY

Christian Life, , ,

When Molly and I began our daily walks, I noticed that she regarded every passer-by; jogger, cyclist, pedestrian, dog walker, employee from the nearby supermarket, casual visitor from out-of-town, and even the guard dogs in the properties on the way, as potential enemies. She would “see them off”, big or small, with a flurry of barks and yelps.

However, as the months passed, she has become selective in her enmity, depending on the reaction of the stranger concerned. Some stop to talk to her, some laugh at her enthusiastic defence of her owner and some squawk or jump away in fear at her bravado. It is to the ones who show fear that she reacts the most, trying her best to attack (naturally from behind), against the constraint of the harness and leash with which I control her.

Now, I would never call Molly a devil or compare her antics with the devil’s devices but, as I strolled along and pondered her behaviour, a thought came to me. In an uncanny way, Molly is able to recognise fear and capitalise on it to intimidate any person who happens in her path exuding (to a dog), the odour of fear.

Our enemy, the devil does the same to us on a spiritual level. Fear is one of his most potent weapons to lure us off track in our walk with the Lord…and he can smell fear a mile away and he is quick to respond.  He is subtle in his suggestions when we are faced with an intimidating situation. What if…? Is God really for me? Did He really promise…? Does He love me? Does He even exist?

Before we know it, our confidence in the love and care of a Heavenly Father is engulfed in the clouds of doubt and fear. We view our Father through the troubles we face and we either don’t see Him at all or He seems far away and out of touch with our very real problems.

When Molly and I walk, I have her firmly under control in a harness and leash which restrain her every effort to do harm to a stranger. She can make noises to deal with the “enemy”, but she can’t touch them as long as I have her in hand.

Despite what we may feel or think, the Father also has the enemy of our souls firmly in His grip. He promised that we would never be tested beyond what we can handle (1 Cor. 10:13). He is not only our place of safety but also the source of everything we need. Our role is to neutralise the enemy by refusing to give way to fear. When fear comes knocking on the door, the truth of God’s promises will keep the door of our hearts closed to the lies of the enemy.

The battle between fear and faith takes place in our minds. We must first redirect our thoughts from the uncertainties of fear to the security of God and His truth. Replace the lies with the truth by purposefully focusing on what He has said, not what the devil suggests.

From there, it’s easy because God takes over and His power kicks in to bring a conclusion to the matter at hand.

The Babylonian Aspiration

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THE BABYLONIAN ASPIRATION

See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright – indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples (Hab. 2: 4a; 5).

What was the aspiration of Babylon’s ruler? He wanted to own and rule the world. The Babylonian army was raised up and trained to fulfil his dream. King followed king with the same ambition – to be the ruler of the greatest empire on earth. They were accurate representatives of the god they worshipped – Satan – the deceiver of men and usurper of God’s throne.

What is the spirit of Babylon? Greed! Babylon represents the drive to possess – in this case not only things but people. Death and the grave are perfect pictures of the spirit of Babylon – never satisfied; always wanting more. Hitler, Stalin, and even some of the modern religious sects and cults are Babylonian at heart – and so is every individual who has the insatiable desire to control and to possess.

Satan spawned Babylon because, through Babylon, he aspired to rule the world and to hold every human being captive to his ambition to take the throne from God and to be Lord. Babylon is symbolic of every person and everything that is anti-God and anti-Christ – every person who wants to control and, in the end every individual who dominates others by intimidation or manipulation. The spirit of Babylon is the spirit of witchcraft.

But Babylon not only symbolises the spirit of the world; it also symbolises the counterfeit church – the great prostitute of John’s visions in the book of Revelation. Babylon, the city and the false religious system, was the source of every false religion which still infests and infects the world today.

Nimrod and his evil wife, Semiramis, set out to defy the living God by establishing cities to keep the people together and a tower to rescue the population from destruction by any further flood and to get nearer to heaven by their own efforts. It was a fist shaken in the face of God. It was the spirit of Frank Sinatra’s song, “I did it my way.”

However, God was always in charge, now as then. He had instructed them to fill the earth with people, not to stick together in cities. Confusion drove them apart and sent them out to populate the earth.

They went, taking their false religion with them. Instead of obeying God’s instruction to manage their earth for Him, they went out as representatives of Satan to sow disobedience and destruction wherever they went. Every nation in the Old Testament had its own form of the Babylonian mystery religion, symbolised by the mother and child cult – and all over the world today the same ancient religion is practised under many names.

What is the fate of Babylon?

“Woe! Woe to you, great city, you mighty city of Babylon! In one hour your doom has come!” (Rev. 18: 10).

What is God’s prescription for His church?

Then I heard another voice from heaven say, “‘Come out of her, my people,’ so that you may not share her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues, for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes (Rev. 18: 4-5).

Yes, God raised up the Babylonians in history just as He revealed to Habakkuk. What they did to God’s people was no happenstance. He intended to be a wake-up call to His people to separate themselves from the spirit of the world. God has raised up today’s “Babylons” to awaken and purify His church. His word to us today is still the same:

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? . . . Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Cor. 6: 14; 17-18).

Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God (2 Cor. 7: 1).

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Stand And Resist

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STAND AND RESIST

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To Him be the power for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 5: 8-11)

‘Spiritual warfare’ is a very current topic in the Christian world. There are all kinds of weird and wonderful teachings around regarding spiritual warfare; we have international prayer movements that teach and write about spiritual warfare; we even have people who regard themselves as specialists on spiritual warfare – generals, they are sometimes called!

But what is ‘spiritual warfare’ if there is such a thing in the Bible?

Unfortunately, many of the ideas about so-called ‘spiritual warfare’ are gleaned from the Old Testament – things like identifying ‘Jezebel’ and other kinds of spirits, identifying principalities and powers and pulling down strongholds, doing Jericho marches and prayer walks, dealing with gates and altars etc., etc. We have to ask, ‘How legitimate is this way of dealing with the devil? Is this the teaching of the New Testament?’

Both Peter and Paul did not deny the existence or the activity of Satan. He is powerfully at work in the world through unbelieving people. But what power or influence does he have in the lives of believers and how do we deal with him and his minions?

Firstly, for those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He rose from the dead and who live by the truth, Satan has lost the power to deceive. Jesus exposed and defeated him through the cross (Col 2: 15) If not, then He died in vain. When He cried out, ‘It is finished!’ He meant it. Believers have been ‘rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.’ (Col 1:13, 14)

As long as we believe and live by the truth, he has no power to touch our lives any longer. The only power he has is the power we give him when we believe his lies and open ourselves to his influence. We are immune from his wicked schemes. So what does he do? He tries to trick us into believing that he still has the power to harm us. Peter and Paul’s answer to his lies? Stand! Stand! Stand in the truth! Don’t fall for his lies. Don’t believe what he insinuates. Resist him by submitting to God and standing firm in the faith.

It is true that our struggle is against principalities and powers, not human beings. They are the agents through which the devil works. It is true that the devil is always trying to destroy us, like a roaring lion on the prowl for prey but, as long as we are aware of what he is up to, and do not allow him to lure us into his ways, we have nothing to fear. We are protected by the power of God’s name. (John 17: 11)

But what about so called warfare against the devil in the world? Are we not supposed to engage the enemy on behalf of the lost? Yes, we are, but not in the way that it is being done. We must take our pattern from the New, not the Old Testament. It is not the so-called spiritual warfare prayers that rescue people from their wicked ways but the power of the truth.

The city of Ephesus is a case in point. When Paul went to Ephesus it was the seat of the worship of the many-breasted goddess Diana, or Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, of wild creatures and of birthing. She was called ‘great’ to distinguish her from all other lesser goddesses of the same name. She had the attributes of Ashteroth, the female counterpart of Baal.

How did Paul deal with Diana-worship? Did he lead prayer marches around the city? Did he hold prayer meetings to discern the identity of the principalities and powers over Ephesus and pray ‘powerful’ prayers to pull down strongholds? Did he pray at the gates of the city? No, he did none of these things. He preached Jesus. And the result? People turned to the Lord; they burnt their books on witchcraft; Diana lost her power and the silversmiths, led by Demetrius, lost their business and set off a riot against Paul.

Jesus told His disciples at Caesarea Philippi, the ‘red light district’ of Israel, where Pan was worshipped by people having sex with goats, that there where the devil’s practices were rife, He would build His church and not even hell itself would be able to withstand it. How would He do that? By placing His yoke, His way of understanding and applying God’s teachings, on the very people whose yoke was the yoke of Satan.

Come on, people of God. Let’s get real. Let the Bible teach you, not those who have invented their own theories and now consider themselves experts. We do not need to be taught how to do spiritual warfare. Every time we obey the word of God and live by the truth, we defeat the devil. Every time we share the message of Jesus and someone turns to the Lord, he loses another battle.

If we spent as much time sharing our faith with others by our lives and lips instead of learning how to do spiritual warfare and engaging in these futile activities, the kingdom of God would be advanced more powerfully than it is right now.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

The Power To Transform

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THE POWER TO TRANSFORM

“Here is a simple rule of thumb for behaviour: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them! If you only love the lovable, do you expect a pat on the back? Run-of-the-mill sinners do that. If you only help those who help you, do you expect a medal? Garden-variety sinners do that. If you only give for what you hope to get out of it, do you think that’s charity? The stingiest of pawnbrokers does that.'” Luke 6:31-34 (The Message).

Jesus was brilliant!

What an amazingly simple, yet powerfully effective prescription for creating harmony in the world! But it takes far more than the disposition of ordinary humans to do that.

We humans have far more inclination to destroy that to build and to sustain. Watching television is enough to convince us of that. How many TV programmes and movies and books and news stories are about destruction? And we thrive on them all! Watching or reading about everyday stuff is tame and boring. We like murder and war and bloodshed.

Jesus challenged His hearers, and He challenges us today. Try living this way for a month and see what it does to your depression; your stress; even your anxieties and fears. How many of the issues you have with others will melt away? How much suspicion, mistrust, dislike, offenses will dissipate? How much peace will you experience in the place of inner turmoil?

Just imagine how far the ripples will go out from the pebble you drop in the pond! You have issues with your husband? Try doing for him what you are always nagging him to do for you. Your wife refuses to be your servant? Try lovingly serving her without expecting any reward. The outcome beggars imagination. Homes would be transformed from war zones to havens.

Jesus put His finger on the nerve centre of our problems — selfishness! What if we dethroned ourselves, just for a month, put Him back on the throne of our lives where He belongs, let God be the centre of the universe, not us, and practised these simple ways to create harmony, not chaos, around us? Jesus said our behaviour would be as visible as a candle in a dark room.

None of these things are difficult to do, but we have strong resistance from inside because they are foreign to our natural disposition. That is the reason why we need a supernatural solution to our problem of selfishness. It may take sheer grit and will power to do what we are not disposed to doing, but it will not last. We will soon be back to our old ways because every kind thought or act would be cutting across our real selves.

What Jesus was describing is “kingdom” living and He said that it takes a “birth” from above to understand and live the way God does. This kind of “power” makes no sense to the person who is used to living by the sword. Is that why the disciples switched off when Jesus spoke about His death? It made no sense to them then that the way to overcome the world system of power through force was to absorb the evil without retaliation until that power could do no more to Him.

Nothing about God’s kingdom makes sense to the person who is still dark inside. The disposition of darkness only understands the power that pushes others around. Jesus was advocating a new kind of power, the power to subdue one’s own heart to the advantage of others. The power of love. What the world calls “power”, He called weakness. What He called “power”, the world called weakness, foolishness, but it turned out to be the most powerful event in the history of the world — the cross!

The cross changes things for the better like nothing else can. Force can change the world — for the worse. But the cross changes lives.

Has it changed yours?

How To Destroy Your Enemy!

Christian Life, , ,

HOW TO DESTROY YOUR ENEMY!

“‘To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love you enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer for that person. If someone slaps you in the face, stand there and take it. If someone grabs your shirt, gift-wrap your best coat and make a present of it. If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.'” Luke 6:27-30 (The Message).

“What are you saying, Jesus? You can’t be serious!”

Oh, but He was. If you want to know what power is, this is real power. There is no true power in retaliation. It only takes a bit of physical or emotional energy to hit back when someone hurts or offends you. But what kind of power does it take to absorb the blows and respond with kindness and generosity? It takes power over one’s own self not to give back blow for blow.

But it takes far more than sheer will-power to stop oneself from hitting back. That is a perfectly natural reaction coming from a human point of view, but Jesus was talking about an attitude that is far more than what comes out of our fallen human nature. He was talking about a changed disposition that comes from a completely different perspective.

What will it take to change us from reacting to responding? Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3 that, to “see” and enter the kingdom of God will take the equivalent of going back to the beginning of our life and starting over again with a new nature. That is impossible in the natural, as Nicodemus discovered, but God can do it through His power at work in our spirits.

Paul speaks of this supernatural event as “being raised from the dead” — a spiritual resurrection that is like waking up to a new realm where we understand everything from God’s point of view.

God is not a tit-for-tat God. He treats us according to who He is, not according to the way we speak or behave. That’s the way His rule operates. Human parents would understand this. If your son misbehaves, he is still you son, no matter what. A good parent will address the behaviour, not bully or disown the child because he has behaved badly.

When we were born from above, God gave us the potential and the power to respond to situations out of who we are in Christ, not out of who we were in Adam. And He gives us opportunities to show the ones who offend us what He is like by absorbing the wrongdoing and not adding to it by retaliating.

But it’s even more than that. Jesus said that it’s not about non-retaliation. It’s about actively responding with generosity. That’s how God treats us. The best way to “destroy” your enemy is not to beat him up or kill him but to make him your friend. He will cease to exist as an enemy and come alongside you instead of standing against you.

What kind of perspective can change our attitude towards the ones we perceive as enemies? There are two things that have helped me see things from God’s point of view. Firstly, God wants us to treat everyone with dignity because we have all been created in His image. To dish out cruelty to another human being is to treat God with the same attitude. Who would want to do that?

Secondly, people’s words and behaviour reveal who they are, not who I am. I don’t have to mirror who they are by retaliating. I want to mirror who God is by offering kindness and generosity for unkindness and meanness. Absorbing the blows will stop them right there and offer your enemy the opportunity to change his mind as well.

Have you tried it? You can, with God’s grace.