CONQUERING AND OVERCOMING THE SUBTLE DEVICES OF SATAN: 2 - TopicsExpress



          

CONQUERING AND OVERCOMING THE SUBTLE DEVICES OF SATAN: 2 Corinthians 2:11. Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. Isaiah 32:7. The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. Jeremiah 8:12. 18:12; John 10:10. God wants His church to be knowledgeable about the Triune God who saves, sustains, energises and enables the believer in Christ to walk on the narrow path that leads to heaven. In the same vein, He wants His church to know that Satan has subtle devices. This is because Satan’s devices, methods, goals and strategies are diametrically opposed to God’s. The devil knows the believer well; and will gain an advantage over him if he is ignorant of his activities. So, the believer who knows the personality, wiles and purposes of the devil is one who overcomes him. His strategies and wiles are so cleverly organized and covered up that the believer who lacks insight, influence and inspiration of the Spirit of God will never be able to see until the devil achieves his purpose. It is as the Lord opens his understanding that the believer is able to see those devices and overcome them. The devil has a purpose, namely, to destroy. He inspires lies, lying wonders and flagrant disobedience to the will and word of God in people he uses with the sole aim of bringing his devices to pass against God’s will for the believer. The devil, the adversary of Christ, the believer and the entire church want to achieve his goal through his cunning devices against believers. But Christ, not being ignorant of those devices said, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy…” (John 10:10). He gains advantage over the believer who is ignorant of his devices. But what and how does he actually execute his plans? What has he achieved already and what does he still aim to achieve through his devices? THE PURPOSE OF THE SUBTLE DEVICES OF SATAN: 1 Chron. 21:1-4a,7,14; Job 1:8-11; 2:9; Luke 8:12; 2 Corinth. 4:3,4; Acts 13:8,10; Luke 22:31; 2 Corinth. 11:13,14; Daniel 8:25; 11:21,24,32a; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12. The devil has been operating from the Old Testament period. The ignorance of some saints made him to achieve his devices against them without their knowing the personality behind their woes. When “Satan stood up against Israel”, David was ignorant of his devices. The devil plans, calculates and develops strategies to carry out his devices in a well structured and organized manner. Whatever God stands for, Satan stands against; whatever God loves, he hates; whatever God appreciates, he devalues; whatever God builds, he wants to destroy. David became his target because God found him a man after His own heart. The same way Satan hates and seeks to destroy or in the least make redundant the believer who has a similar testimony of divine approval. Rather than provoking physical warfare through another Goliath in which David would have brought his experience to bear, he came through an unfamiliar terrain. Through this unrecognized method, he achieved his aim of destroying seventy thousand Israelites. Likewise, the devil is after the whole church, not just the single believer. Numbering the people of God is not a sin if it is commanded by Him. Believers need to know therefore that anything that does not originate from God is from Satan. When God testified of the godly private and public life of Job, Satan sought to destroy him. He is always working in the opposite direction of God. Satan told God that Job would “curse” Him if the divinely bestowed blessings were taken away. God, knowing that the devices of Satan will not always succeed against committed believers, proved the devil wrong. Even when Satan inspired Job’s wife through a suggestion that he should “curse” God, he held to his integrity. The point here is that Satan operates through demon-inspired suggestions. Obviously, when God exalts a man, Satan wants to pull him down; if He blesses a man, Satan wants him to lose that blessing; when God saves a man, Satan will want him to backslide, when He draws a sinner to be saved, Satan wants to block his entry into the Kingdom. He also steals the word of God people hear so as to prevent them from being saved and restored; he crowds the mind with things that make the seeker forget the word and the decision they should have made. He blinds the minds of sinners and backsliders; and they become dead to the reality of their spiritual condition and the light of the gospel. Through crafty and deceptive remote-control of his agents, he also seeks to turn away people who listen to the word of God from the faith so as to prevent the church from growing. The devil knows a bit of the future and he uses that knowledge to fight against the purpose of God for the believer. Seeking to prevent a glorious experience such as Peter had at Pentecost and his usefulness thereafter, Satan sought to sift him like wheat. When Peter denied the Lord, he did not know Satan was subtly behind the scene. Sometimes, he comes in a cheerful way as an angel of light. Crafty and deceptive, some agents of Satan appear peaceful, generous, profitable and cheerful with the purpose of destroying the believer. They also use flatteries and miracles that originate from the devil to deceive believers. But we shall conquer and overcome. BRETHREN BE WATCHFUL AND VIGILANT AND THE LORD GOD WILL SURELY MAKE YOU MORE THAN CONQUEROR AND AN OVERCOMER.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 13:54:28 +0000

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