Wisdom In The Word

Nowadays, we see a constant bombardment of curiosity when it comes to the aspect of “spiritual warfare”. Hollywood and the entertainment industry in general has marketed and glamorized the resisting of the devil and demonic forces as a struggle that flings people through walls, houses that erupt in chaos, sadistic and homicidal actions influenced by people who are under demonic possession, and the list goes on. I have some experience in spiritual warfare and I would have to say that some of these things listed can happen however the biggest deception of who the bible deems as the “evil one” is subtlety and discreetness.

“No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” – 2 Corinthians 11:14

This article is not aimed to glorify or give attention to the enemy but it is going to be a reminder that God is in control and there is no power in heaven and on earth that can contend with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Reading this I pray that you can see the tactics, schemes, and lies of the enemy. The power doesn’t belong to us. It belongs to God!

Clearly the enemy from the very beginning was deceptive and did not appear as a red- horned adversary with a pitchfork that we often see in popular images. We must be wise and look toward God’s Word to reveal the tactics of the enemy. He was involved in the fall of mankind in the garden of Eden. One of the biggest ways that the enemy can trick us is through his lies.

The Devil is a Liar

Adam and Eve walked in the garden with God in communion and were attempting to live out the commandments of God to be fruitful, multiply, and have dominion but this command was heard of the enemy and he disguised himself as a serpent to deceive Eve into breaking the only rule in the garden which is to not eat or touch the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’ ”The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You must not eat of it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”You will not surely die,” the serpent told her. “For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.”

Notice the lies of the snake in the garden. Revelation 12:9 clearly speaks of the serpent as the devil and states “And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”

He starts off by saying “Did God really say” which goes into my breakdown of the lie tactic which is he lies to you so that you can question God and/or God’s authority. We see this all the time with the rise of scientific worship, Atheism, humanism, secularism, and other movements that go against the original framework of God.

#1 Seed of Deception

The enemy is cunning and will use any word or form of creation at his disposal to try and deceive us. It always starts with a provocative question or statement. The lie can be heard and the lie will always challenge the glory of God because the nature of the enemy is to steal glory away from God. The bible clearly indicates that we are being influenced by either God or the enemy. Even as Christians, our actions can slip up and lead us down the liar’s path of destruction. Let us be led by God and stand on the Truth which is Jesus Christ. Jesus spoke to the Pharisees who denied Him and said,

“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” – John 8:44

The fact is that if we do not cling to God’s Word with the discernment of the Holy Ghost then we will easily be tricked to believe that the truth is a lie and a lie is the truth. The devil even knows the Word of God, but he does not live the Word because he is forever deceived and his heart is forever hardened. He starts small but then it gets bigger and more out of control like a snowball turning into a destructive avalanche.

#2 Create Confusion

Have you ever wondered why there are so many religions? Why are there so many denominations? Have you ever wondered why people argue scripture? What about Christianity mixed with New Age or another religion? There is so much confusion out in the world that it may be difficult to decipher what is left from right but the Word remains true when it says,

“For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.” – 1 Corinthians 14:33

In other translations it says that God is not a God of disorder which breeds that same concept. God is not chaotic. He will not tell you to go up but really mean the opposite. He is intentional, deliberate, and makes His stance known. The bible shows us many things but we often miss the mark of what God is doing in our lives because we lack the understanding to ignore the lies of the enemy and stand on God’s truth.

In the days that we are living in, it is important to find the facts of what God is saying and remove them from the attachment of manipulated human emotion, pleasing of people’s agenda, politically correct, or any other thing that has tried to attach itself as the truth. The dangerous thing about Satan’s lies is that they are perverted or twisted versions of the truth so it won’t usually be a bold lie. It will be something similar to how he tricked Eve or how he tried to trick Jesus in the wilderness in Matthew 4:5-7.

“Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ⁶ “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
    and they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Do you see the formula? First he uses a seed of deception by asking Jesus “If you are the Son of God” which is the identity of Christ. We will get to a similar point shortly. Then he follows up by quoting a portion of God’s Word to get Jesus to challenge God. One might ask, “What would be wrong with Jesus throwing Himself off a cliff if this is indeed true?”

The problem with this is that this verse is taken out of context which is a huge problem with our churches today. There are so many “interpretations” of scripture that can create division through one verse. Does this mean the bible is wrong or that scripture is in error? Not at all. The written Word is not the problem but it is the lack of guidance by the person reading that’s the problem. In Christian studies this is called “proof-texting” which is when a person reads one verse and interprets an entire theology or belief system based on this verse alone. This is similar to how the news we watch usually portrays people or incidents in a bad light by clipping a piece of audio or video of what the person says or does instead of showing the entire captured audio or video footage. This is a divisive tactic that doesn’t tell the whole truth.

We should never place ourselves in harms way willing and expect God to help us. This is why Jesus responded to the devil with “it is written, you should not test the Lord your God.” If you read the whole chapter of Matthew 4 you will see that Jesus always responded to the enemy with the Word of God. It is important that we know the truth and also stand by it no matter what.

#3 Steal, Kill, and Destroy

I can only imagine that the enemy likes to sit back and watch everything burn as a result from the lies that he tells. Just like in the garden, the enemy nodges and pokes until he can get the desired reaction. They come in the form of thoughts, people’s strong opinions, school, or even society in general. These lies disguise as something “noble, just, or loving” but again the bible warns us by saying,

“There will come a time when people will not tolerate sound teaching. They will collect teachers who say what they want to hear because they are self-centered.” – 2 Timothy 4:3

We have to remember that Satan himself is prideful and this is what led to his downfall along with the other fallen angels. Pride is the root of all sin and temptation. If we rely on Christ and do not do things by our own desires and take heed to things that are said by those who want to intensify or extort those same desires, then we will be stronger and set apart from the deceptive reality of our world.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” – John 10:10

God comes to bring life and edify in Jesus name. There may be times where the enemy comes to steal, kill, or destroy but what is the target of this attack. What is the target of the lies that he spreads? What are the motives of his hateful nature? The enemy desires to steal, kill, or destroy our identity in Christ.

Think about what happened in the garden. Adam and Eve were in perfect harmony with God and had no sin before the forbidden fruit. Satan tells Eve that she will be like God if she disobeyed but previous verses tell us that she was already like God in Genesis 1:26 “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” Of course man in this verse is representative of mankind and she was the first woman, made in the image and likeness of God. The lie attacks the identity which is the root motive of the enemy. This is the same with Jesus Christ who is in 1 Corinthians 15:45 regarded as “the last Adam”. Sin entered into the world through the first Adam but we were redeemed through the Last Adam, Jesus Christ. The enemy was able to deceive the first Adam but he could not deceive the last Adam. Glory to God.

Submit To God

If you ever felt confused, shaken in your identity (especially in Christ) and then chaos and destruction soon followed, more than likely it was an attack of the enemy. Especially when he tries to attack your identity in Jesus Christ and remove you from your foundation. It doesn’t matter how far you drift, the enemy will work with any amount of drifting. He is jealous of our relationship and this is seen in the book of Jude when he desired the bones of Moses who was considered a friend of God. Michael the archangel rebuked Satan at this attempt and we should do that same. If a mighty angel of the Lord’s army rebuked Satan then we should do according to what it says in James 4:7 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” We all need to submit to God and only then will the devil flee from us. We are weak and nothing without our Lord Jesus Christ and this is why we must stand firm in the Truth.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” – Ephesians 6:12

When people or society are operating in things that are not of God and we are able to discern it, realize that they are under a delusion and a deception that is making them believe in a lie. We must pray for our world and also for people who are under strong delusion so they can see the light in the middle of their darkness. There are many tactics of the enemy and lying is just one of them but the major one this is often used. Wrestling in the above verse is not fighting with our own power. We should be fighting our own pride and fighting against the lies into submission under God. Every time we submit to God the enemy has no choice but to concede defeat. Let us pray together that we are firmly planted in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Prayer: (Submitting to God)

Read Aloud

Lord Jesus, I thank You for who You are. You are above all things and everything is underneath Your feet. Jesus I know that You are the Truth and there is nothing that can separate me from Your love. I submit to Your will for my life which is written in Your Word and I believe who You say I am according to Your scripture which is the Holy Bible. In the name of Jesus I rebuke all forms of pride, double-mindedness, witchcraft, divination, false religion, self-righteousness, unbelief, confusion of identity, doubt, seeds of deception and any other thing that tries to exalt itself above the teachings and commandments of my Lord Jesus Christ. I rebuke the enemy and cancel ever lie, attack, scheme, or mission against my life and those around me. I pray that I stand firm in Your Word and whenever there is confusion, I study Your truth in Jesus. Whenever there are words that try to steal, kill, or destroy an opportunity to give God glory, I ask that You give me wisdom and understanding to resist the temptation to believe in the lie. Lord Jesus I plead Your blood which covers me on every side and gives me power to stand on Your Word alone. I have victory in the name of Jesus and I declare that I present myself at all times as holy and acceptable as a child of God. I rest in your promises and I am guided by the Holy Spirit. In Your Son Jesus name I pray. Amen

The Lord is God and I pray that you have received peace and deliverance from the lies in Jesus Christ name.