Tag Archives: satan

A Slave of Love

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For the past while I have had a clear vision of the spiritual battlefield.  I have seen the armies of Satan arrayed against my soul, and I have seen those armies marching against two good friends of mine.  I do not mean this allegorically, I mean that I have had a clear picture, I see these three battlefields – and each is slightly different.  We are in a real war, it is hidden from our natural sight and yet it is more real than anything we can naturally see, touch, hear, taste or smell.  I see Satan’s demons, I see the legions of the world allied with him, and here, within the castle walls are the skulking traitors of the flesh.  I will not describe in greater detail what I see and have seen here – I mention these visions only to emphasis the reality of this war – I have seen it in very real and very visual clarity.

The Battle

The Battle

The other day I was walking in a moderately crowded store, and I was struck by the knowledge that God loves these people around me, Christ died for them, and the blow nearly brought me to my knees.  The Spirit not only showed me God’s love for these souls, He showed me Satan’s desperate desire for them also.  But there is a great difference between the motivations of the two.  God’s desire is for a relationship of love; His motivation is love and His certain knowledge, based in love, of what is the very best for each of us.  Satan’s desire is hatred and death and destruction.  Satan has no desire for a relationship, no concern for our welfare, no care for our souls, no ability to nurture – he is the embodiment of sin and death.  

I want to make this very clear; in my clarity of vision in these instances, Satan is intent on desvastation.  He has no desire to win our souls or occupy our hearts.  His purpose is destruction and death, his motivation is hatred, his power is darkness and lies.  In these visions I observe the terrible forces of Satan, I see how vulnerable we are to his assault – but I also felt the power of God and knew I was safe in His protection.

Once, when I was a young boy, I was with my brothers and my mom a short ways from the house.  One of my brothers rode a bicycle there and I wanted to ride it back to the house.  I made my case that it was fair that I should ride it back, since he got to ride it over.  Mom agreed with me, and I rode it back.  A few weeks later we were in similar circumstance, but I rode the bike over.  This time I argued that I had the foresight to ride the bicycle over and therefor it was mine to ride back!  I made this argument in full awareness of the counter argument I had made weeks earlier.  It was a wicked argument – and a very successful tactic of Satan.  First, Satan tempts us with the lie that it won’t matter, we can sin and live, that no one will ever know, that it won’t affect our testimony or our walk, that just this once it will be OK.  THEN, as soon as we fall, he is right there in our ear, telling us how degenerate we are, how God doesn’t want anything to do with us, that we are unworthy and unclean and that we have no hope, our testimony is destroyed and our lives are without value.  All are lies.  It DOES matter, it WILL affect our testimony and our walk, it is NOT OK – but on the other hand, when we fall, God desperately wants us back, Christ died to cover that very sin, our testimony can be renewed and our souls are precious in His sight.

So much is flooding my thoughts at the moment, I don’t know how to put it in words – but the profound truth is that Satan has no care for us, he hates us with an extreme malevolence, because Satan is hate as surely as God is love.  Temptation is NOT, emphatically not, intended for us to experience pleasure; temptation’s purpose is for us to experience death.

This is not exactly where I intended to go today.  I know I have painted a dark picture in the preceding paragraphs, but upon this backdrop I intend to display a bit of the love and greatness and power and glory of Almighty God.

 

Slave Auction - Rome

Slave Auction – Rome

Romans 6 We are slaves.  In our natural, unjustified state we are slaves to sin and death.  When we come under the blood of Christ and are redeemed, justified and restored, we become slave to Him, slaves to righteousness and light and love and life.  We are either a slave to one or to the other vs 12-18

Jesus tells us in John 8:31-32 that the truth will set us free.  If the truth sets us free, from what or whom does it set us free?  Truth sets us free from lies.  The prince of lies is Satan and he commands the forces of darkness, of the world and the flesh.  It is becoming more and more clear that truth, light, love, righteousness, life – all are the same thing, they are all God.  Just as lies, darkness, hatred, sin and death are all Satan.   Back to Romans 6, the truth sets us free from lies and death (Satan) to become slaves of truth and life (Christ).  John 14:6

One of the lies of the world is that we are capable of directing our lives, but from my study yesterday, Jeremiah says that we don’t have that ability. Jer 10:23  While we were slaves to sin and lies and darkness, God bought us, with the blood of Christ, to be slaves of light and love and truth.  1 Corinthians 6:19-20

In Deuteronomy 15:16-17 there is provision made for the slave, able to go free, who chooses to stay and serve his master for the rest of his life.  The act of piercing the ear with an awl publicly declared the choice – “I am a willing slave”. 

I am a slave.  By whose awl is my ear pierced?

Joshua 24:15 (KJV)  Choose you this day whom ye will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

It’s a Jungle Out There!

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Today’s post is difficult for me.  I know the messages are to me, but the verses seem so heavy, as I work through them.  I feel myself brought low, then lifted up.  The bringing low seems to me to be very direct, and very obvious.  The lifting seems more obscure, less direct.  Since my intent here is to encourage my Christian brothers/sisters, not to condemn or burden them, I am struggling with this study.  I KNOW it is for me, and I am encouraged as I have worked through this.  I want everyone who reads this to be lifted and encouraged…but it just occurred to me:  I will put this in God’s hands, and ask His message to be conveyed.

Sunday morning, part of the pastor’s message hit me pretty hard.  Hebrews 12:5, 6  I know I am being chastened, and I know it is mostly for repeat offenses.  That’s what hit me.  Proverb 26:11  The pastor suggested that if we know we are repeating our sin, and do not feel a heaviness or a burden on our hearts, if things are going well, then we need to ask ourselves if we truly are His child.  Shame – knowing that I have repeated my offenses, and that God knows I have – Satan uses this shame to discourage me from going before God for restoration again.  Revelation 12:10

Just an aside – Christ, our Lord, the only sinless one, is fit to accuse any and all of us…yet he doesn’t.  He forgives us, and calls us to His loving embrace.  Satan, on the other hand, filled with evil of every kind, possessing within his being, in abundance, everything he hurls in accusation at any of us; Satan, on the other hand, never ceases to accuse.  Remember, when Satan accuses, he tries to tell us we aren’t worthy of God’s love, that we cannot be cleansed, that we are too dirty to come before God – when Satan accuses, he is accusing as the great hypocrite and the great liar.  When God chastises, He calls us to himself for restoration. He calls as the Great Redeemer, the Great Lover of our souls, as love itself.  The voice is different, the response in our hearts is different.  If we want to run to God, then it is His voice calling us.  If we want to hide from Him, it is Satan beguiling us.  John 6:66-68

Driving home after church, in a somber mood, I turned to a Christian radio station for encouragement.  Billy Graham was preaching the parable of the sower, and he tossed in this quote from Fred A. Allen, which was repeated several times in the “teasers” leading up to that point in his teaching: “Most of us spend the first six days of each week sowing wild oats; then we go to church on Sunday and pray for a crop failure.”  I felt convicted again.  Then, in my study later in the day, after reading a couple of chapters in Exodus, I opened my Bible randomly to…Luke 8:4-15.  As Bill Engvall says, “Here’s your sign”. 

John MacArthur in my study Bible references Isaiah 6:1-8 from the parable of the sower.  I hope you all understand why this passage lifted my heart.  I was deeply convicted by my pastor’s words, followed by Billy Graham, particularly the Fred Allen quote, reinforced by my Bible taking me to Luke 8, finally being led to Isaiah 6.  Isaiah 6 is not a pleasant chapter!  It does begin by praising the greatness and glory of the Lord, but it speaks mostly of destruction and catastrophes and desolation.  Jeremiah is confessing his sin – “woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips…”  But in the depths of Jeremiah’s despair, the angel comes to him with a burning coal from the altar (Calvary?).  He cleanses Jeremiah’s lips with the coal, and God speaks, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Jeremiah’s response, “Here am I, send me.”  Here I am, ruined, sinful man – but for the glory of God, send the forgiven, redeemed me.

After Jeremiah, my attention was drawn in succession to John 16:33 – These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you might have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.

James 5:16 – helping one another by confession, restoration and the prayers of righteous men.

And the great uplifter! John 15:15  We are no longer slaves to sin.  Bound to return again and again.  And Jesus, the Son of the Living God, calls us “friend”!  He saw us as slaves.  He knew our condition – but He brought us out of that and we are friends of God, and heirs with Christ!

For some reason, Ecclesiastes 8:12 shows up.  Is it because I see the sinful, wicked man prosper as I am chastised?  “…still I know that it will be well for those who fear God…” or Romans 8:28 “And we know that [a]God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

Then to 1 Corinthians 15:50-58  Death is swallowed up in victory!  Death, where is YOUR victory? Oh Death, where is your sting?  Triumphant words!  Then Paul says, the sting of death is sin.  Sin and death are conquered, swallowed up in victory!  Oh glorious day!  Oh glorious day!

Then finally, I’m sent out with Ephesians 6:10-18.  The armor of God, and the exhortation to pray always..

I hope you are encouraged, I pray that your spirit rallies to Christ’s call to fight!  There’s a war raging, my brothers.  Be watchful in the Spirit, be brave in Christ, be strong in the strength of Almighty God!

Standing Alone

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“Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Eph 6:13 (KJV)

There are certain moments in life (and at death) that we stand alone with (or without) our God, our Lord, our Savior.  Setting aside the obvious moment of death and judgment in which we stand before The Great Judge either alone in our sin, or with our advocate Savior, covered by his righteousness, there are also those times in our life that cannot truly be shared even by our closest friends or family.

I say this with apology to all those who are good friends, and especially to those who are good friends to me – and to those loving family members who gather, in spirit or in body, to ease the burdens of their loved ones.  Those acts do not go unnoticed, or unappreciated, but through some of life’s trials we must ultimately stand alone…or with the help of our loving Lord and Savior - who CAN share our struggle, who CAN soothe our pain, who CAN ease our burden and who CAN cure our affliction.

Do not let this discourage your impulse to actions or words of kindness and encouragement.  Last Sunday, in church service, my heart was heavy and discouraged as I saw some difficult times ahead of me.  As we sang songs of joy and thanksgiving for God’s help and strength and comfort, my heart was lifted but my emotions surfaced.  I tried to be discrete, but the lady next to me, who I had never met, noticed – and in a small act of powerful kindness, she put her hand on my shoulder.  It served as silent encouragement, not only to go to God, but the assurance that He is in control.  She could not enter into my struggle, she could not ease the burden, but she silently pointed me to Christ, the one who can (I like that name for Him, The One Who Can) – and I appreciate her kindness and wisdom.

We have all felt our inadequacy when trying to help someone through dark times.  What can we say?  What can we do?  How can we help?  Sometimes there is nothing to say, nothing to do, no help to give – because in those times, it is God’s alone to provide.  But coming through such trials, on the other side, the sufferer remembers the effort and the bonds of love are strengthened.  But in the moment, no mortal words or actions can do more than address the periphery of daily care…each of us are left to face our struggle, our pain ourselves. 

I believe God has made it so to drive us to Him.  “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” Phil 2:12 (KJV).  Doesn’t this clearly make my point?  Obviously, this verse applies to our eternal salvation from sin and death.  But I believe it applies, also, to salvation from the trials of the moment…and we must work out OUR OWN salvation (with fear and trembling).  I infer from the phrase “fear and trembling” two things: 1) the fear of what lies ahead, knowing our inadequacy in the coming struggle.  2) that fear driving us in desperation into the awesome presence of God, and there, trembling before Him, to plead for His intercession on our behalf in the overwhelming now.

The sooner, the better.  God has a plan for our lives, and a plan, a cure, for the moment.  No matter where we find ourselves, no matter what it was that brought us to this place, God has a plan to bring us up and out and into greatness, grace and glory for His Name’s sake, far beyond the loss, the pain, the mental and emotional – or even bodily – suffering we face.  “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials” James 1:2 (NASB) and again “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.” Phil 1:20 (KJV)  Doesn’t such earnest expectation, hope and boldness come from the certain knowledge that Christ, who faced all things – and even more, conquered all things, is fighting for us as our Champion, our Justifier, our Elder Brother – who will not suffer the neighborhood bullies (Satan and his demons) to torment His little brother or sister.  Remember (and I remind myself) that doubt, fear, despair – are from the devil.  And from him comes forth lies.  He is the author of deceit, the creator of lies. 

We can find ourselves in difficulty because of Satan’s deception “No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness” 2 Cor 14, 15 (NASB) We are prone to be led astray by good ideas, good people, pleasant situations, happy moments – whatever can take our eyes off Christ, His mission on this earth and His purpose for our lives. 

 

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C.S. Lewis writes about this deception of the good in “The Screwtape Letters” the apprentice demon to whom the letters are addressed is encouraged not to push his righteous target into gross sin and open rebellion, but simply to sideline his life’s purpose by “good” distractions, by pleasant company, by well meaning intentions, appealing good works – and these, Screwtape writes, are their most powerful weapons.  In their deception of good, they subtly derail the inattentive Christian from loving God and serving Him, to doing merely “good” human works – good, maybe, but NOT the divine purpose for our lives.

A bit of a sideline that – something that has been on my mind of late – but I think it is always good to remind ourselves of the deceptive powers of our tormentor, the great liar, the deceiver of the whole world, Rev 12:9, and the accuser of the brethren, Rev 12:10. Think of that! The greatest of all deceptions is to accuse the blood-bought saved in Christ, making them believe that His suffering, His death, and His resurrection are of no effect, that they are NOT sanctified and blameless, but burdened with sin and guilt!  The one who can put forth THAT lie is capable of any deception.  To think we are able to perceive the devil in his disguises, let alone resist him in our own power is another lie that Satan whispers incessantly in our ears.

I will conclude with a snippet from one of my favorite secular songs, with parenthetical comment/correction for purposes of my illustration.  This, finally, is the plea of every brother or sister in conflict and/or sorrow, to his or her brothers and sisters in Christ:

“Out on the road that lies before me now

There are some turns where I will spin (sin).

I only hope that you can hold me now (in your thoughts, your prayers, your kindness)

‘til I (not I, but my God, my Creator, my Lord and my Savior) can gain control again.”

Excerpt from ‘Til I Gain Control Again – Rodney Crowell

Performed by Waylon Jennings