The Enemy's ways

2 Corinthians 2:10-11
    To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

1 John 2:15-16
    Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
I feel I need to start with the latter Scriptures first.  Yes, I placed these in the order I desired, but I needed to learned a few things from bother these set of verses.  One, that forgiveness is a tool for OUR freedom, and if we do not utilize it as Jesus instructs us in the LORD's prayer, the devil will walk through that open door of bitterness and begin his work of planting more seeds.  But the latter also teaches us the three things the devil and his followers use against mankind.  It has worked since the garden of Eden, it has continued to work for 6,000 years, why should he stop?  Knowing that the end times is drawing near, he has increased these attacks and used man's own lustful thoughts and hatred of Jesus against himself.  All you have to do is look around, it is getting worse each day.

Murder suicides are beginning to be the norm in many online news websites.  Last weekend as a professional football player that left a young toddler now without parents.  One sports writer made mention that this is another case of banning weapons entirely.  On the contrary, this is when I want to protect my family.  Sorry to say, those who want guns are going to find a way illegally to get one, so why take away the rights for lawful citizens to protect their families?

Back to the main focus.  In the garden of Eden, Eve was tempted by the good side of the tree.  Notice the three things on how the serpent deceived Eve (references in red):



Genesis 3:6
    And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food (lust of the flesh), and that it was pleasant to the eyes (the lust of the eyes), desired to make one wise (pride of life), she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Do you the devil stopped this ploy?  It was working so well for 4,000 years, he tried on Jesus.  Ready?

Matthew 4:1-11
    Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. [2] And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. [3] And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. [4] But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. [5] Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, [6] And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. [7] Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. [8] Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; [9] And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. [10] Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. [11] Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

turn the stone to bread - lust of the eyes (fasted forty days, he was definitely hungry)
dash your foot against a stone - pride of life
bow down before me, I will give you this kingdom - lust of the flesh


Each of these three are different for many people, but doesn't mean the devil hasn't changed his ways, just his methods.  He has wiled some people into the error of Balaam and the ways of Korah to influence the church of Christ.  We are not to be ignorant of his devices, but he is becoming more cunning on disguising these modern wiles.  Unforgiveness is the best way the enemy can get an advantage over people.

The church needs to get its act together.  I NEED to get my life together.  I NEED to get my family in order in preparation for what I see is the direction of America and the church, unless it nationally repents and God returns.  Derek Prince said the fight begins in the spiritual realm, so how many of His children are engaged solo as compared to an army? 

As I have mentioned in my previous blogs, I am not against many of the gifts of the spirit, including healings, miracles and works of faith.  I am not blaming anyone finding ways to get these, I don't know many Christians who don't need any of these sometime in their life (I am needing one at this writing).  What we need today is a BIG daily, or weekly, meeting and pray His will for the church, the area, and the nation.  Oh, yeah, a list will not be complete unless we pray for peace in Jerusalem. 

Yes, I can agree that there are churches that meet on a regular schedule and have prayer meetings.  The true struggle is getting different churches together, put any differences aside, and make God top priority for that one night.  I got to witness this will between Christians somewhat during the preparation of Rock the Lakes event in Green Bay last August.  Many churches came together to help in an effort to evangelize the Word to those who came to the event.

I hope one day, it will happen.  Understand, it was not God's will for the earth to be in the condition it is currently in.  So much immorality, murders, kidnapping, drugs, dysfunctional families, greed, the list goes on.  It needs to stop.  I am truly afraid for my childrens generation.  I have watched mine slowly erode, the next generation deserves better.

Blessings,

Michael
Joel 3:9