Daughters of promise

What if the enemy we’ve feared is really afraid of us?  Can that possibly be true?  If so, we have shrunk back needlessly from taking risks for fear of reprisal.  How sad if, in eternity, we regret not advancing, remembering that we retreated instead.

To highlight this truth, consider this story in the book of Joshua.  The very people the Israelites feared (and were supposed to defeat so that they could claim the Promised Land) were actually terrified of the Israelites. Yet, the Israelites wandered around for 40 years, afraid of them.  The Canaanites were giants and the visuals evoked terror.  

Rahab, a prostitute who lived in Jericho (the Promised Land), shared this with the spies she hid in her house.  

“I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that your terror has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.  As soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted, and neither did there remain any more courage in any man because of you.  Joshua 2:9 & 11

Rehab referred to ‘these things’ – the stories the people of Jericho had heard that made their hearts melt.  Like the story of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea or the battles they had won that defied mathematics.  The giants understood that the God of Israel was no match for them but God’s children forgot history.

We must remember three words: 1. Tremble, 2. Flee, and 3. Overcome. The inspired word of God tells us that Satan trembles when the Word is spoken. He flees when we resist him.  And finally, he is overcome when we give our testimony and speak of the blood of the Lamb.  

The LORD is the stronghold of my life– of whom shall I be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident. Psalm 27:1

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?  Romans 8:31

To God be the glory!

Perhaps you had a visceral reaction to the two pictures I sent you a few days ago.  One showed a beautiful home surrounded by a pristine white picket fence.  Roses and green vines spilled over the rails, creating a feeling of home.  The other picture showed an abandoned home bordered by a dilapidated fence.  Sections were missing, and much of it sprawled on the ground.  As inviting as the first picture was, the second was a chilling contrast. 

What if our spiritual fence line is compromised, like in the second picture?  Can it ever be restored to its former glory?  Yes.  Let’s explore five ways we can do that.

1.   We go to God humbly, with a childlike spirit, and ask for help.  We decide to be teachable rather than defensive; whatever He reveals, we ask for the grace to accept His words.  

“I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 18:3

2.  We ask God for revelation about any gaps in our fence line.  What does each downed timber represent?  Unconfessed sin gives the enemy access and God wants to show us the complete picture because He desires to bring hidden things to light.

I shine upon and give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to direct and guide their feet in a straight line into the way of peace. Luke 1:79

3.  We repent and renounce. Are there alliances that need to be revoked?  Have vows been made to people and organizations that Jesus never would have made?  These create gaping holes in our fence line.  Repenting and renouncing secures them again.

Remember from where you have fallen and repent. Revelation 2:5

4.  We ask God to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  Repentance not only brings forgiveness, but deliverance. The enemy must leave as he loses his legal right to continue to oppress us.    

If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  I John 1:9

5.  We remain vigilant to guard our boundary lines. There is no place more tenuous than a recently confessed sin.  Satan smells fresh paint on new timbers.  He will do everything he can to get us to fail in that same area again. We must be prepared with well-chosen scriptures, written out, ready to speak when customized temptations invade our space. 

Be very careful, then, how you live–not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Ephesians 5:15-17

Days after a new presidential candidate secures the nomination, biographies appear on the bookshelves to reveal his/her personal story.  Who they are today is largely explained by where they came from and by the people and events that shaped them early in life.

We’ve spent many days looking at some of the enemy’s strengths – his ability to roar, intrude, plan strategically, deceive, and customize temptations- but we haven’t yet looked at his history to discover just why he is bent on doing evil. 

Satan was once a high-ranking angel – alongside Gabriel and Michael.  He lived in God’s presence and was in charge of all the worship in heaven.  Despite that privileged position, he committed an act of treason that got him thrown out of heaven.  Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” Luke 10:18  God gave His Son the memory of this event.

Isaiah tells us more about this event; that Satan promoted himself.   I will climb to heaven and place my throne above the highest stars. I will sit there with the gods far away in the north. I will be above the clouds, just like God most high. Isaiah 14:13-14   Satan felt entitled to the worship God was getting.  He believed that he was the one who should sit on the throne.  With this twisted ambition, his gifts were simultaneously corrupted. Pride then fueled his supernatural charisma, and he campaigned to angelic hosts to join his cause.  He was amazingly successful and influenced one-third of them to defect.  God expelled him (and the angels who joined him) and sent them to earth.  

He set up his kingdom in the second heaven, the heavens just above our planet.  Organizationally, it mimics the structure of God’s kingdom.  He is a copycat. He delights in taking what is holy and perverting it. He is both artful and insidious with scripture, quoting it at the wrong time and using it as a weapon to drive a wedge between us and God.  We can read God’s own words about him.

“You were anointed as a guardian cherub and lived on the holy mountain of God. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade, you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mountain of God and I expelled you.” Ezekiel 28 THE MESSAGE

We cannot take on this enemy ourselves.  We have no power on our own and it would be an unfair match.  Yet, we are not to be afraid.  We are God’s children, saved by the blood of the Lamb, dressed in his righteousness, and equipped with everything we need to live in victory.  With the Word as our sword and worship as our warfare on the frontlines, the devil trembles and flees.  It’s deja vu for him as he hears the worship he once composed and conducted being sung by those who were snatched from captivity.  Their anthems soar on the wings of awe and gratitude.

From creation forward, God told His us how life would work. He desired to bless and have a relationship with us and set out the following ground rules. ‘Obey, and you will be blessed.  Disobey, and you will be led into captivity.’ There are myriads of examples throughout Scripture that prove this to be true.  

When the nation of Israel worshipped God and followed His precepts, He blessed them, protected them from their enemies, and made them prosperous.  But when they disobeyed, when they chose to worship idols and do every kind of abominable thing, His hand of protection and blessing was withdrawn.  They were carried away as slaves and became acquainted with famine and all other effects of the Fall.  Today, God’s Word still stands and the same rules apply.

Imagine with me that each of us lives within the perimeter of a white-picket fence line.  We are blessed and protected when we follow God and live holy lives.  The white picket fence looks brand new.  It’s pristine.  All the timbers are upright, painted, and sturdy. But when we choose to sin, when there are longstanding patterns of disobedience, that pristine white fence deteriorates into disrepair, like a fence that borders an abandoned property.  Timbers are on the ground, or bent and broken.  The gate is smashed in.  Enemies walk in. 

Personalized Prayer Mapping is about doing boundary-line assessment so that there can be fence repair.  King David said The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. Psalm 16:5-6   How true this was before his sin with Bathsheba, but how his life was ravaged after disobedience.  

If a child of God loves Jesus and knows a life of confession of repentance, his boundary line is secure.  But many of God’s children have more timbers on the ground than are standing.  The enemy is a wolf on the prowl, an intruder, and a strategic planner, and he easily gets through the fence.  

Joyce Carol Oates said, “We human beings are the species that clamors to be lied to.”  How true.  We are lulled into a sense of false well-being by an enemy who wants us to believe that everything is fine.  But he fears the child of God who knows that repentance and forgiveness through the blood of Jesus closes any access and secures the boundary line.   Footholds and strongholds are history.  It’s time for the Bride of Christ to purify for the coming of the Bridegroom.  May we not be found sleeping with the enemy.

Strongholds are fortresses, nearly impenetrable structures. Internal strongholds are built over a long period of time. They exist because the enemy has been at work, and with our cooperation, unrighteous beliefs have become firmly embedded in our mindsets, culminating in unrighteous deeds. Where there are strongholds, you can be sure that sin festers, uncontested. What does Paul say about demonic strongholds?

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 2 Corinthians 10:4

The overarching message here is that strongholds can be demolished. The weapons that will take them down are not physical; we can’t see or touch them. Instead, they are spiritual and are divinely empowered. They are given to us by God’s gracious intentions so that we can live victoriously.

If I trust God’s love and believe His Word is true and life-giving, I will abhor sin and hurry to do personal housecleaning where strongholds are concerned.  I will know that without intentional introspection, I will continually be prey to Satan, a known spiritual felon.

Where does the enemy have a ‘strong hold’ on you? It need not be. There is another kind of stronghold you’ll want to run to, a beautiful divine alternative.

The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Psalms 9:9

God promises to be our stronghold. We can run from demonic strongholds to the one God offers. It is not a structure at all; it is Him. He is the fortress! All who run into Him are safe. It’s His promise.

Why would our enemy wish to deceive us if we are God’s children? He’s already lost the battle as it relates to our soul and spiritual destiny. It doesn’t make sense. But, I can think of two reasons. 1.) He can wound God’s heart when he hurts His children. And, 2.) By telling us enough lies about who God is, he can do a ton of damage to our relationship with our Father. 

Paul warned us.  But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:3

Where have you backed up from God? Where are you unsure of His love for you, shy of the intimacy He offers? Where do you distrust Him and drop your gaze? Somewhere in the answers you provide, lies can be found. The deceiver has done some damage to your ability to trust God wholeheartedly. You are no longer a small child who jumps from the heights and knows he will be caught.

You might wonder how you can uncover and identify the lies you believe. Hunt the most painful parts of your story. In what areas can you still be triggered? There are emotional warning signs that often accompany lies. Hopelessness. Despair. Fear. Crippling depression. Freezing in place. Wordlessness. Emotions are usually tied to beliefs ~ and beliefs to truth or lies. These lies comprise most of your internal daily battles. Paul warned us that the battlefield is in the mind. 

Any thought that makes us back up from God and trust Him less is a thought we should discard. Its origins are unmistakable. Satan wants to divide and conquer. Malicious lies to disparage God’s character are his best way to disrupt our trust in God’s fathering. If our mind, our battlefield, is littered with lies, we will live in perpetual confusion.   A relationship fraught with misgivings and doubts is an unstable one. We weren’t made to live with our feet in quicksand.  

You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you. Galatians 5:7-8

Someone you care about profoundly doesn’t know Jesus.  No matter how often you tell stories about your faith and how Jesus has changed your life, the other person is unmoved.  Jesus simply isn’t attractive. In a worst-case scenario, your testimony is met with cursing words.  What’s the problem?  You’ve come up against the Deceiver. He lives to deceive the unbelieving so that they never leave his kingdom.  It’s not that he cares about them.  He doesn’t.  He just doesn’t want God to have them.  

The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.  2 Corinthians 4:4

Satan has put blinders over their eyes and filters over their ears.  The Gospel you are sharing is not the Gospel they are hearing.  It goes through a demonic filter.  The Jesus you are describing is not the Jesus they are perceiving.  He is disfigured, even repelling.  What’s the cure?  Spiritual warfare!  Know this ~ Captives can be freed.  Deception can be cured.  

Missionaries in spiritually dark places know to engage in heavy spiritual warfare before presenting the Gospel.  But we in the Western world don’t believe it’s really necessary. It’s time to wake up!  Using our God-given authority to use the Sword against the Deceiver can make all the difference between the darkness that covers an unbeliever’s eyes and the Light that will break through.  For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6

Prayer: Lord, you love _________ and don’t want them to perish.  In the authority You gave me, I apply the victory of Calvary and the shedding of Your blood to the schemes of the Deceiver. Let there be light over the darkened mind of __________ today.  Give them spiritual sight so they may see Your glory and believe.  In the name of Jesus, I pray, Amen

Satan is a tempter. Always has been. He appeared in the Garden and worked on Eve quite artfully. She swayed under his spell, sinned against God, and humanity was cursed.  Satan continued to wreak havoc right up to the day Jesus was baptized.  When the Lord retreated to the wilderness for a 40-day fast, Satan had Him in his sights, waiting until the Son of God was vulnerable, hungry, and weak. He told Jesus that if He would worship him, there would be immediate payoffs.  

The enemy doesn’t come at us on a good day, either. He waits until we are compromised, not having slept for a night or two, when we’re down with the flu, or when we’re crushed with crippling disappointment.  We ache for relief and would do about anything to stop the pain.  Satan counts on that.  His temptations offer us a way out early instead of waiting on God. 

The Holy Spirit can teach us how to fight as Jesus did.  Satan comes at us, quoting scripture and presenting spiritual arguments in such a persuasive way that it’s hard to discern if what we’re hearing is a God-breathed idea.  But Jesus promised that we would know His voice, that He’d give us the precise Word to speak to overcome Satan’s hard-to-resist temptation. 

One more thing.  At the end of Jesus’ temptations in the desert, the account in Luke says this.  “When the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him [Jesus] until another opportune time.”  What would constitute the next opportune time?  When Jesus was weary after intense times of ministry, after Judas betrayed him, or when his family accused him of demonic possession.  Temptation almost always starts with a need, on a day we’re facing calamity.  Kind David said ~

He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from foes too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my support. He brought me out into the open; He rescued me because He delighted in me.  Psalm 18:17-19

Satan has many disguises; a lion’s costume is only one of them.  He is also an intruder.  A sneaky one.  He prowls around the border of our personal boundary lines, looking for a break in the fence.  He seeks a way to sneak in quietly so he can oppress.  If he has legal grounds to do so, he’ll move in and call it home. It’s spiritual Squatters’ rights.  He’s as crafty as a serpent who can move among the blades of grass without even disturbing them.  He’s in before you even know it. 

What gives him the right to oppress?  Our unconfessed sin. Unresolved issues.  Grudges and resentments we haven’t yet laid at the foot of the cross.  Family biases we have perpetuated out of improper loyalty to our parents.  Responses to victimization and abuse that we haven’t yet processed to receive Abba’s healing.  Judgements rooted in unforgiveness.  All of these compromise our fence line to provide an opening.  The ‘intruder’ prowls, seeks such an entrance, and has the legal right to slither in.  

What can we do about this invasion?  Plenty.  Ask God to reveal our blind spots. Ask the Holy Spirit to search our hearts, daily.  Disclosure brings confession, confession brings forgiveness, and forgiveness brings deliverance.  Our enemy will no longer have the legal right to stay in our space.  Squatters’ rights will be revoked.  

There is another way to live for anyone who can’t catch a break or who can’t seem to get their breath because of relentless opposition. It is possible to breathe deeply and hear nothing but quiet, to listen and only sense the reassuring whispers of the Spirit.  Holiness offers us a peaceful sanctuary to call home.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  I John 1:9

Satan is a strategist. His plans are well thought out and delegated to his dark forces with great precision.  For instance, let’s look back at his strategy for Judah Iscariot.  The evening meal was being served and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus.  John 13:2  When it came time for Judas to betray Jesus, it was anything but spontaneous.  The devil ‘had already prompted it.’  He knew Judas’ story.  He witnessed his greed.  He saw the number of times Judas dipped into the group’s money bag to pad his own pockets.  If Jesus were to be betrayed for several dozen pieces of silver, there was one perfect candidate. The devil prompted Judas with the temptation long before the last supper.

Satan is a spy and studies your every move too. While you may not know him well, he knows you.  He takes advantage of your weaknesses and customizes temptations with the greatest chance of getting you to sin.  His strategic plan for you will not resemble what he conceives for anyone else. He is skilled at knowing how to match individual strategies with individual people.  He invents impressive plans to get us to cave to sin and abandon holiness.

We must see ourselves as the Holy Spirit gives us insight.  We must know our Achilles’ heel. Have you ever asked yourself, “In what area will I have the greatest chance of defeat if the perfect temptation came along?” 

If I am an alcoholic, I should avoid situations where people drink without limits.  If I thrive on gossip, I should steer clear of groups that find fault with those who can’t defend themselves.  If I am self-critical, I should limit the company of those who delight in tearing me down. I am not invincible. Since the enemy is a strategic planner, I need to be one as well ~ seeing the danger ahead of time and planning my steps accordingly.

We are not ignorant of the devil’s wiles.” 2 Corinthians 2:11  (The Greek word for wiles is strategy.)