So much has happened in the last month since our last post I
could write a book! Let me start by saying “GOD IS GOOD! HE IS FAITHFUL! HE IS
WITH US!” Praise His GREAT NAME!
God by His grace has revealed so much to me lately,
particularly that there is a lot of Biblical knowledge that I know to be true
but have been living as if I really did not believe it is true. One area in particular
that I want to share about is some recent revelations about the reality
spiritual warfare. I know this goes on, I know this is real as it is all over the
Bible, but the way I was living, and particularly praying, did not match what I
know to be Biblical. Think about this, what would be the response if you went
into your church or small group this weekend and said “I believe I am under
demonic attack!” What kind of response would you get? I would venture to say
most in groups it would raise a lot of eye brows, lots of questions, many will
blow you off or say you are passing blame, and there are those who will “deliver
you” on the spot. In this post, I am not going to give a lot of doctrine here,
but simply say what was revealed to me and my heart particularly. I will say
one thing I believe we all can agree on, real believers can experience demonic
attack, and therefore, we must know how to fight.
I want to begin by explaining one simple thing, the adversary’s
goal is “to steal, kill, and destroy”. He wants to steal our joy, satisfaction,
kill our passion, kill our ability to love and be loved, and destroy our lives,
families, and kingdom advancement. We must understand that he is a force to be reckoned
with! He is powerful and he is cunning! Also, he has all the time in the world,
and sometimes the best tactic he uses is not drastic changes or lies, but slow,
subtle, disguised lies that causes us to slowly but surely drift away from the truth
(Heb 2:1). The way he attacks is clear in Scripture, he as “the father of lies”
distorts truth so we cannot see the truth. He cannot create anything, leaving
him to only manipulate what already exists. Think about this, the best lie is
one that is plagued with partial or half-truths and they take knowing the real
truth to identify (Hence we MUST KNOW the PERSON to Word is pointing to!). His
tactic is NOISE! Or “smoke and mirrors”! He blinds us with a lot of lies that
seem true and there are a lot of them at once and they are noisy and we cannot
sift thru them because we are SO BUSY and distracted! Lies like:
·
It is all up to you. If you don’t do all this,
your family will fall apart.
·
You must make the right choice and you must
figure it all out. (NOTE: there are consequences for sinful choices, but I will
explain this later.)
·
God can’t use you for that; you are not
adequate.
·
Your kids NEED all this stuff and to be involved
in all these things and if not, they will miss out and their lives will be
forever changed and ruined.
·
You will never have real community and
fellowship. See how many people have left and how no one is around, you are on
your own! Besides, you don’t have time anyway and it is not really necessary!
·
No one can relate to your struggles as you are the
only one dealing with this! If you confess your sins to others, they will laugh
at you, think so much less of you, and this will further drive the ones left in
your life away!
I am willing to bet I am not the only one who has heard
these LIES! The truth is I had bought into some of them and did not even
realize it! That is the deception! We can be fooled and NOT KNOW we are fooled!
God is good though! Last Friday I met a person that was able
to articulate some biblical truths in a way I had not thought of before. The
amazing thing, it was simple and he did not show any “new truths” so to speak,
but he said it in a way that was very eye opening for me. He said the adversary’s
tactic is to distract with all the noise so we cannot see THE ROOT of our sin!
If we never get to the root, we can never address the real sin. As long as the
root of the sin is in our hearts and never confessed to God, to ourselves, and
to others as necessary, then we will always struggle. Let me give an example,
we may have a deeply rooted sin of doubt in God’s ability to guide us. When we
see we are misguided or make mistakes, that root sin plays out in tireless
working and figuring things out, endless planning, anger, frustration, and fear,
which are all symptoms of the deeper issue. We typically repent of the symptoms
and not of the root because we never get to the root. Our flesh does not want
to go to the root! Therefore, the temporary anger or frustration will go away
when we confess and repent, but the root is still there and will simply show up
somewhere else or return later. The real deception here is that “voice of doubt”
at the root of the sin in our hearts is indistinguishable from our own voice
and from God’s voice. Since we cannot distinguish this voice, we buy in to the
distortions and lies, partly because there is some truth to them, and they are
rooted in principles of this world APART from the truths of the Gospel! It is
an internal battle. We are at war with our passions within our own hearts
(Romans 7:21-23). This is HUGE! If we cannot distinguish the voice of lies from
the Voice of Truth, how do we choose which one to believe? We will choose BOTH!
So last week, a handful of us talked and shared our hearts
and prayed together. We confessed our sins to one another and begin to peel
back the lies to get past the noise. I want to list some of the deep rooted
lies that were behind the noise that I had bought in to and these are DEEP
ROOTED sins that, under the “kingdom of darkness” are true, but in the “kingdom
of heaven”, they are lies:
·
Your family’s provision is up to you to figure
out and manage well. You mess up, your family will suffer and never forget!
There is some truth to this, but see the distortion. I am responsible to manage
and lead my family. However, it is not up to me to have a detailed plan, see
our road ahead, lay out plans to get there, and make it happen. My role is to “see
Christ”, “hear His voice” and “Follow Him”. Now our direction is dependent on
my hearing and seeing and not my DOING! Also, my family does not need a PERFECT
father, but a HUMBLE one! Subtle but ETERNAL difference!
·
Your good job and ability to provide is a result
of God’s favor BECAUSE of your good choices and hard work. Some truth here
again but don’t miss the distortion. God does give favor and gives us good
things to enjoy and we are accountable for how we use them. However, how we use
them is not what drives us to receive more. We receive more because of God’s
unmerited love and mercy. He does not give because I have done anything. He
gives because He loves, PERIOD! Also, He withholds because HE LOVES! God’s
favor is not dependent on my ability to choose.
·
At the bottom of these distortions of truth was
a deep rooted and well-disguised sin of self-reliance. Everything was all up to
me. God’s favor and blessings were a result of my choices and works. LIES! I
had not seen this in myself before.
When all of this was revealed, all I have to say was a
prayer to God saying, “God I confess my sin, my self-reliance, my belief in
these lies over your clear truth. All I have to give you is SIN and I want to
give it to you. I am begging you to take it and to replace it with faith, zeal
for your Name, fellowship with others, and a deep sense of your presence. Open
my eyes to see the future attacks of the adversary and please do not allow me
to be fooled or blinded! I need You and I want You! Please do not let my sins
play out in the life of my wife or my children. Guard and protect them from MY
SIN! Lastly, I ask that you empower me to fight! Empower my prayers! Empower my
study time! Equip me fully to be victorious!”
After our time of confession and repentance, I truly believe
I walked away changed (so did a close friend/brother of mine!). I will also say
this, MY SIN as the husband and spiritual head of my family, had also been
working in the life of my wife. I had to confess my sin to her and repent and
we prayed together about it!
“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for
one another, that you may be healed.” James 5:16.
True freedom begins with humble confession! Confession of
sins leads us to the cross! Give Him your sin. He has already paid for it. He
gives us Himself and we can overcome the world! These prayers of confession to
God and confession to one another are prayers He DIED to answer! I hope my
revelation of sin is encouraging to you! I am changed! HE DID IT, NOT ME!
“I have said these
things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have
tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
Andrew
