Saved for war – Part 1& 2

Created for War – Part 1

The Word of God talks about two kingdoms. The Kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of light. The final battle at Armageddon makes it clear that these two kingdoms are at war with each other. Even though both these kingdoms are in a spiritual realm, for some reason they play out in the physical realm and the battlefield that has been set is earth and man seems to be the object of desire for bot Kingdoms. The one kingdom want to destroy man and the other wants to save man.

We can really only speculate what God thought when he decided to make humanity. Was it to take the place of Lucifer and his fallen angels, was it to fill the hole of praise that took place in heaven. I don’t believe God created us as a replacement. Truly  he fashioned us in a unique way. As far as we know we are the only creatures that were created in His image and likeness. I believe it is this fact that has Satan in such a bind against the idea of humanity. His enemy is God, and here is a whole planet filled with creatures that carries the image of God. Must really aggravate him. We are not given a whole lot of detail on this subject. What we do know is that God cast Satan from heaven and from the beginning he had it in for humanity.

What is his main goal. Satan was kicked out of heaven because he Thought he could usurp The Lord Jesus’ throne. He wanted to be God, he wanted to be worshiped as God. As we know that did not go as he planned. When man came on the scene he found a new avenue to get a throne. Man sat on the throne as king over this creation. He usurped the throne of man with the same lie he fell for. He did not tempt eve with the apple. He did not tell her the apple looked so good and ripe and red and delicious, Eves own mind did all of those. What he told her was that God lied, she won’t die if she ate the apple, she would be like God. She foolishly believed that this will be possible and ate the apple.

Satan from that time ruled over the earth as its King. Yes The world is the Lord’s and everything in it, but Satan rules over it, just like Adam ruled over it. The throne of the world sounds like a good thing to have, but for Satan it is not enough. He is not worshipped as God. He will drive this world to the point where they will bow before him when he sits on the earthly throne of God in the Holiest of holies to be worshipped as God. Everything Satan does is towards this end.

The war starts when you are translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light through the blood of Jesus the Christ. Now you have become a real threat. Now you have become an enemy to be reckoned with. Before you were saved you are left ot the mercies of a spirit that hates you. He could leave you with riches and deceive you with so called wisdom so you can be his priest in this world. Others he will torment with disease and sickness, with accident and death, just because of his hate for humanity. He is actively promoting and advancing towards his throne in the temple of God. He is actively promoting the idea that man can be God, so that as the Antichrist he can sit on the throne and be worshipped as God.

Satan is working towards this goal, and non believers that believe his doctrine are truly at his mercy. The child of the living God is the only one that can make known his plan. The child of God is the one that can remove the deception of his works from the eyes of the world. Therefore Child of God, prepare yourself, you are at War. How intense is this war on an individual basis, we might ask.

1Pe 5:8  Be sensible and vigilant, because your adversary the Devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking someone he may devour;

This verse should tell us clearly that the devil does not really care, he is walking around, and he is seeking someone, anyone to devour or destroy. The Lord would not place this warning in his word if this was not the case. Consider that the devil is not working alone. There are hordes of demons that follow him and that operate under his command. If they can devour you they will.

Now we have to  see why the world is not in utter chaos with men walking around under the influence of the demons and killing each other. First of all we have to understand how it becomes possible for a man to fall under the influence of Demonic powers. The beautifull truth is that the choice is ours. Satan cannot go against our freedom to choose. He cannot miraculously override the intent of God’s creation in humanity. Man must stay a free moral agent, and not God, neither all the demons or Satan will interfere with this choice. This is an incredible power the Lord has given humanity. It is just a pity that we do not realise it.

Jas 1:13-15

(13)  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

(14)  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

(15)  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Read the above verse again. Child of God, do you realise that God will never tempt you. NEVER!

He does not cause a drink to appear in a recovering alcoholics hand to tempt him to see if he will drink or not. God is not tempted to use evil to tempt us. That would be contrary to his own word which is: Overcome evil with good (Romans 12:27).  We must be careful not to mistake temptation with testing. God tests our faith to see what we will do, but he doe not tempt us to do something evil. For instance he tested Philip in John 6:6. He saw the crowds and asked Philip where on earth they were going to get food for all the people. All Philip had to do was say Lord, you will supply all our needs. The outcome of a test is to make us focus on God and realise our answer is him. Temptation is to draw us away from God and its answer is the kingdom of darkness.

When does temptation come to a man. The devil soes not just come to you and tempt you out of the blue. That is not his way, such temptations will be easy for us to conquer. No, our adversary comes like an angel of light so we won’t see that he is tempting us. First though, the desire comes from us. It is not planted. It belongs to you alone. Once this desire is formed the enemy steps into play. The desire will draw you away from the presence of God, there the enemy will entice you with the temptation of your desire. He will always make the desire look better than it really is.

At this point you are in the danger zone. The war is on, The Lord has given you word concerning this desire, and now the enemy is giving you word on this desire. Here lies the crux, the power that can change the situation either way. You have to choose. If you choose to act on this desire and temptation, it is conceived. Once you have chosen to do the act and step out and actually do the act it causes sin, your choice is made, you chose darkness in stead of light. Being cut of from light, and life, you have chosen death. The devil does not leave you alone after this He has another nasty trick up his sleeve. He accuses you of the very thing he tempted you with. This accusation becomes the strength of his actions against you. It causes guilt and guilt causes further separation from God. Ever felt, how can God love me, or forgive me feeling that is guilt. Guilt does not lead to repentance. Actually Romans 2 states that Gods kindness leads us to repentance. That is a far cry from guilt.

When you live in guilt you start doing works that you hope will lead to salvation, and once you are in works, Satan has control over your life. When a human falls into works for salvation, he turns even further away from the life of God. It does not take a lot for him to think he can be like God by his own deeds, and here we are, back at the original sin. Is it any wonder God tells us to renew our minds.

We can see that the war comes right down to a personal level. It affects us individually as well as corporately. However, we should not get so involved in the ways of the enemy that we miss the ways of our own king. Saying that we have to know the enemy in order to stay away from him, or resist him seems like such a good idea in human terms. However, anyone that has known God for more than a week, knows Gods ways are different from any of man’s way.

Some examples:

The world says we can be good and enter Gods kingdom – God says we have all sinned and no one can enter his kingdom

The world says if someone mack you, smack him back – God says turn the other cheek

The world says you can think something as long as you don’t do it it is not wrong – God says doing it in your mind makes it done already

Jericho would have been attacked with battle rams and ladders – God says walk around it and sing.

The world tells us to empty our minds when we meditate – God says fill your mind when you meditate.

The world tells us to face our depression – God says sing a song of praise to him

In our war against the enemy God again proves to be different. Read this and see how we are guarded:

Php 4:4-8

(4)  Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, Rejoice!

(5)  Let your moderation be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

(6)  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

(7)  And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

(8)  Finally, my brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are right, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue and if there is any praise, think on these things.

Rejoicing, praying, and thanksgiving are the tools that will bring us the peace of God which will keep our hearts. The word keep also translate as protect, guard, or stands as a sentinel. Now where does it tell us how to deal with the enemy it tells us how to act in and with God. It does not tell us to seek out the enemy or work out a plan against the enemy, it tells us to turn to God. You see when we came to the kingdom of light everything in our lives should have changed.

We call Jesus Lord, God and King, but we do not let him rule. When you came to Christ you died to yourself and now live to God in Christ. You are not your own any more. You have been bought with the life and blood of Jesus Christ. Why is it that the children of God do not get this one small point. You are not your own any more. You belong to Christ. You belong to Christ. You are his possession. You are his workmanship, created for good deeds. Now please answer this question. If you are His, meaning if in salvation you fell back in the hands of the creator, why will he let you fall into the hands of Satan. Why will he die on the cross to give you over to Satan again?

You guessed it right, it makes no sense. Well how to deal with life, and live this life and deal with the devil and deal with enemies and a child of God will make no sense if you cannot trust God. Look at the passages of Philippians again. If we want our hearts guarded and protected, what is it we have to do. Rejoice, pray, give thanks. What should fill our minds? Does it say anywhere that we should fill our minds with the tactics of the enemy to have our heart guarded? Finally who does the guarding, us or God?

Now look at his:

Jas 4:5-7

(5)  Do you think that the Scripture says in vain, The spirit that dwells in us yearns to envy?

(6)  But He gives more grace. Therefore He says, God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.

(7)      Therefore submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Most of us have stumbled on verse 7 at some point in our lives. We were told to resist the devil, and we go around binding the devil in the name of Jesus. Some have even taken this so far as to say they are slapping the devil in the face on a daily basis. What does it mean to resist. The word translates into ‘stand against’ the devil or to ‘withstand’ the Devil. How do we do this. Is it in binding the devil and rebuking the devil. Have you heard someone say: “ I rebuke you Satan in the name of Jesus” There is word for this arrogance:

Jud 1:9-10

(9)  Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

(10)  But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.

If not even the Arch angel Michael rebuked the devil what gives man the idea he can. As a matter of fact verse 10 describes such a man as beastly and corrupt. So beware of walking around rebuking fallen angels. It is not part of our mandate. There is no scripture that commands us to bind and rebuke the Devil. Yes Matthew 16:19 Jesus gives the keys of heaven to Peter and whatever he binds on earth will be bound in heaven. Strange it is not referring to Satan at that point. In Matthew 18:18 We have the same terminology however this is used in the context of a sinning brother and the steps to bring him to repentance. No mention, again, is made of Satan.

The other scripture we learn about binding is when Jesus explains to the scribes in Mark 3:27 that he could not possibly be casting out demons by the power of Satan. He explained that the strong man must first be bound then you can take the spoils of his house. Again we have to consider whether this scripture alludes to us walking around binding Satan. Judging from the rest of scripture it does not seem to be the case. Every time there is a teaching from scripture regarding the believer and Satan or Demons we see three words come up, resist, stand and cast out.