Hi all,
If God acts only to restrain and limit Satan's efforts to steal, kill, and destroy us, how do we open the door for the attacks? We won't answer all questions by any means, but I can offer some chapter and verse on how we open ourselves to the enemy's attacks.
Sins against the body
In I Corinthians 6:18 Paul states that fornication is a sin against the body. He says there are sins outside the body, and sins like fornication that are against the body. The basics of what he said is that sins against the body are manifest in the body.
In his day fornication (s*x outside of marriage, including with pagan temple prostitutes) would have seen emotional turmoil, s*xually transmitted disease, and so on. The sins against the body stay in the body.
The larger principle is seen in such things as smoking, over or under eating, working too much or too little, and other sins against the body. There are no miraculous healings in most cases as the person did it to him or herself. God will walk with them in treatment for the condition or disease they brought on themselves by sinning against their body, but rarely have I seen a miracle healing.
I believe it won't be until the age to come that we will learn the sins against the body we have inflicted upon ourselves by all our chemically enhanced foods.
Many today would blame the devil for what are really sins against the body. My mom died of emphysema from smoking 50 years. She loved the Lord, and it wasn't the devil that was doing it to her, she did it to herself.
The same could be said of the person 100 pounds overweight (45k) and their sore joints or feet - there is no healing for that which they did to themselves, making their joints and feet ache. God is just, rendering to each person what they deserve - what you sow is what you reap - that is only fair and just. He will walk with us through efforts to stop the sinning against the body, or walk with us through treatments, but He won't step in to heal instantly that which we've purposely done to our own body.
Prejudice - I Corinthians 11:17-34
The church at Corinth started in Acts 18 with Jews, Greeks, and Romans all under one roof, meeting in the home of the Roman, Justus. Many had racial and social prejudices they held on to, to the point some would not have the communal meal with the others.
Paul asked if they despised the body of Christ? He told them how Jesus bled and was broken for us all, and "many are weak and sickly among you, and some have died early, not discerning the Lord's body. If we judge ourselves we won't be judged. But if we are judged it is of the Lord, so that we won't be condemned with the world." 11:28-32
These people developed what we might call 'weakened immune systems' to cause them to be 'weak and sickly' as Paul stated. He linked it to their prejudicial attitudes towards others. Again, this was to the point they would fellowship with each other, but not eat together. So their prejudice was front and center for all to see. This made them weak and sickly, and many had died as a result.
Strife - II Tim 2:23-26
He told Timothy not to engage in foolish questions, speculations and such knowing they stir up strife. He said those in strife 'oppose themselves' and that 'God may give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth'. Note that in repentance it is also required that one acknowledges the truth - they were wrong in their attitude, opinion, and actions. For Paul wrote:"they are taken captive by Satan at his will." That's huge. A person in strife is captive of Satan and played with at his will.
Forgiveness - II Corinthians 2:10-11:"....for your sakes I forgave it lest Satan take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices." (Devices:'thoughts, purposes, mind')
Married relations - I Corinthians 7:5:Husbands and wives are not to refrain from s*xual union except for certain agreed to designated times, "lest Satan take advantage of your lack of self-control." (Greek:'akrasia'. From 'a', not, and 'kratos', prevail. (ie; lack of ability to prevail against your desires.)
Complicated faith - II Corinthians 11:3-4:"I'm afraid that Satan would deceive you away from the simplicity that is faith in Christ, that you would receive another gospel, another Jesus, another spirit."
If your faith has become complicated by formulas and information that if you do x God will do y, just stop. Return to the simplicity of your faith, give up the complicated gospel, the complicated Jesus, the complicated Spirit.
The reason for listing some of these passages is to show that more often than not we, not God, but we, open the doors for the devil to enter our lives. People get off on a path worried about God granting permission to Satan to test us, when New Testament reality shows more often than not, we are the ones who give Satan permission to enter into our lives.
Satan left Him for a season - Luke 4:13
A final thought is this. Jesus was perfect in character, but was tempted body (turn stones into bread), soul (prove you are God's son by jumping off this tower), and spirit (worship me and I'll give you the world). We are just given the summary of the categories of His temptation, but He was 'tempted in all points like we are, yet without sin.'
Satan left the Perfect Man for a season - it means Satan doesn't need a reason to attack you, he just hates you for you are God's child. A demon can stir someone at work to be against you. The same for church or family. He does random attacks just because he hates us.
Even when the unprovoked attack comes, it is our good and loving Father who limits what Satan can do. When we perceive a demon is stirring someone against us, it is up to us to take authority over that spirit and its attack:"I command the spirit working through ____ to stop attacking me in the name of Jesus. I cast you out of this situation! Now heavenly Father, I ask you to put a buffer between us, send angels according to your will to protect me, and if possible with them, heal the relationship, thanks you, in Jesus' name...." and things like that - use your authority to use the name!
"If you have seen me, you have seen the Father." John 14:9. He never brought evil to try to 'teach' someone...
New subject next week! Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
http://www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]
If God acts only to restrain and limit Satan's efforts to steal, kill, and destroy us, how do we open the door for the attacks? We won't answer all questions by any means, but I can offer some chapter and verse on how we open ourselves to the enemy's attacks.
Sins against the body
In I Corinthians 6:18 Paul states that fornication is a sin against the body. He says there are sins outside the body, and sins like fornication that are against the body. The basics of what he said is that sins against the body are manifest in the body.
In his day fornication (s*x outside of marriage, including with pagan temple prostitutes) would have seen emotional turmoil, s*xually transmitted disease, and so on. The sins against the body stay in the body.
The larger principle is seen in such things as smoking, over or under eating, working too much or too little, and other sins against the body. There are no miraculous healings in most cases as the person did it to him or herself. God will walk with them in treatment for the condition or disease they brought on themselves by sinning against their body, but rarely have I seen a miracle healing.
I believe it won't be until the age to come that we will learn the sins against the body we have inflicted upon ourselves by all our chemically enhanced foods.
Many today would blame the devil for what are really sins against the body. My mom died of emphysema from smoking 50 years. She loved the Lord, and it wasn't the devil that was doing it to her, she did it to herself.
The same could be said of the person 100 pounds overweight (45k) and their sore joints or feet - there is no healing for that which they did to themselves, making their joints and feet ache. God is just, rendering to each person what they deserve - what you sow is what you reap - that is only fair and just. He will walk with us through efforts to stop the sinning against the body, or walk with us through treatments, but He won't step in to heal instantly that which we've purposely done to our own body.
Prejudice - I Corinthians 11:17-34
The church at Corinth started in Acts 18 with Jews, Greeks, and Romans all under one roof, meeting in the home of the Roman, Justus. Many had racial and social prejudices they held on to, to the point some would not have the communal meal with the others.
Paul asked if they despised the body of Christ? He told them how Jesus bled and was broken for us all, and "many are weak and sickly among you, and some have died early, not discerning the Lord's body. If we judge ourselves we won't be judged. But if we are judged it is of the Lord, so that we won't be condemned with the world." 11:28-32
These people developed what we might call 'weakened immune systems' to cause them to be 'weak and sickly' as Paul stated. He linked it to their prejudicial attitudes towards others. Again, this was to the point they would fellowship with each other, but not eat together. So their prejudice was front and center for all to see. This made them weak and sickly, and many had died as a result.
Strife - II Tim 2:23-26
He told Timothy not to engage in foolish questions, speculations and such knowing they stir up strife. He said those in strife 'oppose themselves' and that 'God may give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth'. Note that in repentance it is also required that one acknowledges the truth - they were wrong in their attitude, opinion, and actions. For Paul wrote:"they are taken captive by Satan at his will." That's huge. A person in strife is captive of Satan and played with at his will.
Forgiveness - II Corinthians 2:10-11:"....for your sakes I forgave it lest Satan take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices." (Devices:'thoughts, purposes, mind')
Married relations - I Corinthians 7:5:Husbands and wives are not to refrain from s*xual union except for certain agreed to designated times, "lest Satan take advantage of your lack of self-control." (Greek:'akrasia'. From 'a', not, and 'kratos', prevail. (ie; lack of ability to prevail against your desires.)
Complicated faith - II Corinthians 11:3-4:"I'm afraid that Satan would deceive you away from the simplicity that is faith in Christ, that you would receive another gospel, another Jesus, another spirit."
If your faith has become complicated by formulas and information that if you do x God will do y, just stop. Return to the simplicity of your faith, give up the complicated gospel, the complicated Jesus, the complicated Spirit.
The reason for listing some of these passages is to show that more often than not we, not God, but we, open the doors for the devil to enter our lives. People get off on a path worried about God granting permission to Satan to test us, when New Testament reality shows more often than not, we are the ones who give Satan permission to enter into our lives.
Satan left Him for a season - Luke 4:13
A final thought is this. Jesus was perfect in character, but was tempted body (turn stones into bread), soul (prove you are God's son by jumping off this tower), and spirit (worship me and I'll give you the world). We are just given the summary of the categories of His temptation, but He was 'tempted in all points like we are, yet without sin.'
Satan left the Perfect Man for a season - it means Satan doesn't need a reason to attack you, he just hates you for you are God's child. A demon can stir someone at work to be against you. The same for church or family. He does random attacks just because he hates us.
Even when the unprovoked attack comes, it is our good and loving Father who limits what Satan can do. When we perceive a demon is stirring someone against us, it is up to us to take authority over that spirit and its attack:"I command the spirit working through ____ to stop attacking me in the name of Jesus. I cast you out of this situation! Now heavenly Father, I ask you to put a buffer between us, send angels according to your will to protect me, and if possible with them, heal the relationship, thanks you, in Jesus' name...." and things like that - use your authority to use the name!
"If you have seen me, you have seen the Father." John 14:9. He never brought evil to try to 'teach' someone...
New subject next week! Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
http://www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]
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