Be Aware Of Satan’s Tricks Pt 2 - The Deceitfulness of Riches

Unfortunately, we are engaged in warfare with an enemy that knows the scriptures, though he prefers to use it against us, and as a result knows the promises of God to us as contained therein. As the bible says, God prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies. Our table of promises which reveals God’s goodness for us is laid out before Him. So he tries, using different tricks, to make it impossible for us to get all that has been laid out for us on that table. Some of his tricks are really obvious and others not so obvious. So God warns us to watch for the tricks so we are can fulfill our destiny. Satan has always used our desires against us by manipulating the word of God giving us good reasons to be lured away from God by these desires of our flesh. He tried it with Jesus and failed yet he continues to try with us and must fail too hence God prepares us; putting us on notice so that we are always on guard.

 

1 Peter 5: 8 “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”

 

James 1: 14 “Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.”

 

A lot of us have a strong desire to be rich which would ordinarily be understandable especially because no one likes the look of poverty. We desire money to the point, and even beyond, where we want for nothing; but sadly, man is insatiable so that we never get to this point. It is always a point in the future for man, believers and unbelievers alike. The more money we have, the stronger our desire for more. This desire pushes some to work so hard that they toil. In my Country for example, there is no such thing as engaging in a vocation for passion; most of us do what we do because we need to make a lot of money and fast too but with minimal effort; and this could be any vocation ranging from trading to pastoring and even more. We are so desperate to ‘make money’ that this desire guides most of our decisions including even our choice of church to fellowship because we fellowship to network or learn another godly principle that unlocks yet another door to more money. Ah! I forgot to mention, we pay our tithes too but not because it pleases God, for that is the last thing on our minds; but only because we must keep the devourer away from our purse as well as have God open the windows of heaven and pour so much money upon us, that we don’t have room enough to receive. We live on and build our lives around this love and/or desire for money which, according to scriptures, is the root of evil.

 

1 Timothy 6: 10 “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.”

 

This craving or insatiable desire for money, not the money, is the root of a lot of evil. We need money no doubt but when it drives most of or all our actions and decisions, then we have a problem which satan can capitalize on to work against us luring us out of God’s secret place and into his trap to destroy us, whilst promising us even more money all the way - deceitfulness of riches. A sad reality of life is that money can deceive anyone even mature believers and this includes even Pastors. Money keeps luring one; lying to that one is not rich yet but on the way there though they already are. It is an attitude of mind that is consistently desperate to have more money, struggling to attain to a level of wealth that is imaginary and as a result, unattainable. It lies that if they had a little more money, then they would be rich; an endless pursuit that leaves one always seeking that ‘little more’ money - saving for the rainy day, and then for the children and for the children’s rainy day and so on. Or it could put some others in competition with another who is unaware of and not in competition with them. Unfortunately, as such persons begin to think they are closing ranks with their competition, the competition appears to make major leaps. This goes on endlessly so that one is forever needing to be rich and never able to enjoy the benefit of contentment. Satan has succeeded in luring many away using this trick.

 

Mathew 13: 22KJV “He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.”

 

Mathew 13: 22NLT “The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced.”

 

Money also promises a life that only God can give and satan knows that; so that as soon as we buy into this lie, we start chasing money with a view to getting that ‘supposed good life’ which only God gives and satan’s job is done. Anyone caught in this race is toiling, albeit innocently, because they are driven by the devil who is wasting their strength and time, which amounts to their life; pretending like they will get something at the end of the day. Moreover, it leaves them with very little or no time for God who gives this life which money deceitfully promises and can’t give.  Please note that whenever we get too busy for God, it is time to stop so we don’t lose everything. It’s only a matter of time before one loses what God gives, if they leave Him. We must remind ourselves that promotion comes from God who gives power to make wealth and blesses with a blessing that makes rich. To truly succeed, we must keep our eyes on God which requires a deliberateness regarding our focus.

 

Mathew 6: 24 – 25 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life- whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?”

Be Aware Of Satan’s Tricks Pt 1 - Is Your Light Shining?

Anyone who suggests or thinks that we live in a ‘satan free’ world deceives themselves. Whilst we don’t live our lives guided by what he says or does, we ought to be aware of his existence and sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit who unveils his many tricks to us so that we can respond appropriately. It is important to observe that because we were under the control of the enemy, he knows a lot about us and as a result often attempts to ruin us via our weaknesses and this, notwithstanding that the weaknesses may not in themselves be bad. As times change, it appears satan’s strategy also gets more refined. Whilst seeming really subtle, it is more potent now than ever before. Sad also is the fact that more believers unwittingly yielding themselves for use by him against other believers making it easier to attack the church. We must be very careful and spiritually aware. This is not to say we should become spooky but we ought to be well informed so that we are equipped to deal as we live our daily lives focused on God. Satan’s many attempts in the believers life could be likened to ‘side shows’ which we deal with as we move on but they are not our focus. God already told us that satan exist who will keep attempting to ruin us with a view to ensuring that we live for him here on earth and end up in hell. No one can live for satan and be a light; and this, notwithstanding the number of times they are in church.

Mathew 5: 13 - 16 “You are the light of the world-like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”

I think we may have misconstrued ‘good deeds’, as in scripture above, to mean ‘good overtures’ but it must be more than that because the unbelievers do those same ‘good overtures’ and yet they don’t shine as light. So there must be more to our good deeds that makes them shine. I have realized that though these “acts of kindness” or what I call “good overtures” are good, and we must be kind because as we know kindness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit and an attribute of love; however, it takes much more for these acts to constitute the good deeds that shine. These deeds shine because of the life of God from which they are birth. Without the life of God, these deeds have no life and without life, they cannot constitute light. We cannot be so generous and yet be so full of wickedness and assume that our acts of kindness will constitute light. We cannot be so giving and yet so envious and lacking in contentment and then assume that we are living righteous lives. We must be honest with ourselves; it is time for some simple truth telling. The good deeds do not constitute light just because we are believers; they must be born of a righteous life so that they shine. The life is the light; and that life is the life of God. This is what demarcates the believer from the unbeliever. This is the light that chases darkness out. These dishonest means are not the right means to make our light shine. Sometimes our light goes out and we don’t even notice because we are still carrying on like believers.

John 1: 4 – 5 The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it.”

1 John 1: 5b “God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all.”

One thing I have observed from scriptures though is that a man may catch God’s attention with what I refer to as ‘good overtures’. God may then choose to fill such people with His life so that they can become light. We cannot afford to be deceived by the enemy. God is not as interested in the deeds as He is in the quality of the deeds. We don’t fight to make the quality right for Him; it is a result of an indwelling presence of God. Jesus said He only did His Father’s will here on earth but is that what we do? It is so easy to be deceived into thinking that one is on the right path just because they are focused on their good acts and so don’t realize that they no longer have the indwelling presence of God. Good acts are not the hallmark of the believer but a believer does ‘good’. The devil also knows this and also that man is so full of self that he loves to be called good so he lures us into this life without Christ but full of seemingly ‘good deeds”. It is therefore, incumbent upon us to check that our good deeds are born of the righteous life; for this is what counts and causes men to give God glory. Jesus is the light of the world and when we attempt ‘good’ by ourselves, we may appear to want to be light despite all our good intention. With all the best intentions in the world, we must be careful not to attempt to take the place of our Redeemer which is what satan wants us to do and has always wanted to do himself. If we choose Christ every time we make decisions, then we won’t have to walk in darkness.

John 8: 12 “Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, ‘I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads you’.”

Do Not Give Up - Let Your Hearts Be Stayed On The Lord

There is no difficulty we face that has never occurred and will not occur again if Jesus tarries. The real challenge we face, whether as individuals, organizations, nations and/or governments, is not the difficulty itself; it is knowing what to do to resolve the problem. Resolving challenges would often require mental effort and/or a struggle which we often refer to as war. We as believers must remember that our warfare as well as the weapons are spiritual and this is not without reason. According to the word of God, which is truth, everything in life starts from the spiritual realm and that includes challenges. So that real life challenges must be resolved in that realm from where they originate which is deeper than the physical, for them to be resolved permanently. Challenges instigated by satan are spiritual, no matter how ordinary they may seem, and should be resolved spiritually; the victory in the spirit then trickles to the physical making it easy to resolve them physically.

 

2 Corinthians 4: 18 “So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”

So one of the strategies of the devil against believers to prevent us from having these difficulties resolved, is to ensure that we fix our gaze on the things that we can see and in doing that we rely on the same things for resolution of our difficulties ensuring thereby, that they are never fully resolved. The spiritual realm is the only place where we are assured of permanent victory. All we do there is enforce the victory Christ already won thereby settling our victory if we fight right. So satan does everything possible to prevent us from fighting right. If we fight in the physical, we don’t fight right because we fight on the wrong turf. We must be mindful of satan’s devices. He does any and every thing to destroy our faith in God and His power/ability to resolve the issues that pertain to us which was already resolved by God when Christ won the victory over satan. Whenever we think God is not interested in resolving or is too slow to resolve our issues, then we resort to working it out ourselves placing us at a disadvantage. Reliance on the flesh as opposed to leaning on God, does not resolve matters permanently and that notwithstanding whether they be personal or they concern a people.

Isaiah 36: 6 “If you lean on Egypt, it will be like a reed that splinters beneath your weight and pierces your hand.”

Satan makes sure to spread all the terrible or vicious stories making the good things God does look small whilst magnifying our challenges so that it looks like God is doing nothing, which is not true. The strategy is to kill the faith of the hearers which he sometimes works slowly to achieve. His pace of work never changes his purpose. Some such information has such strong capacity to kill faith, it even paralyzes the listeners and prevents them from doing their own part for the establishment of the will of God on earth. The information may not be lies outright; they may even appear true but not God’s counsel for the situation and such is the challenge of believers in my Country concerning our Country so that if we must go forward we have to insist on the establishment of God’s will. This vicious information dissemination must be turned around so it works for us and our Country just like Rahab did. We have to choose what we make of all that we hear. Satan has used this method severally and this is one of those times when it must fail. We must, like Rahab, use all the negative information we hear to facilitate the establishment of the will of God in our Country. We have to insist on doing what needs to be done that God’s will be stablished in our lives and Country. We have to make the evil provoke us to do good for God. We must work against satan’s purpose especially because like Sennacherib when he was sent by his master to discourage Israel, the devil wants us to feel defeated before we fight so we don’t fight. Of course when Hezekiah heard all Sennacherib said, his faith failed but thank God he went to the house of God where his faith was built up again.

Isaiah 36: 12 “But Sennacherib’s chief of staff replied, ‘do you think my master sent this message only to you and your master? He wants all the people to hear it, for when we put this city under siege, they will all suffer along with you.”

Rahab heard all the bad news but chose the path that worked the establishment of God’s will. Whilst others in her city were ‘gisting’ about the fact that Israel would over run Jericho, she was working to ensure that the information she had, worked good for her and she tapped into another life – a life in God, and worked for the establishment of His purpose. She chose to believe that even in that situation of doom, good would come for her and her family. She believed so much that she took the risk of hiding the spies which could have worked against her. She trusted enough to side with God, a God that she had never known but had only heard of. She believed enough to take the chance, using her position on the wall for God. Are you using your own position for God or self? She could have given the men up and maybe gained recognition of her government but she chose God’s side. What side have you chosen? God found in Rahab, a vessel that was clean and ready for the master’s use; are you ready for His use?  

Are You Establishing His Government? – Time to ‘Occupy’

Luke 19: 13KJV “And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, occupy till I come.”

Believers are so distracted in our times. We are so carried away with things that don’t matter that we can’t seem to focus. We expend too much energy trying to be ‘right’ and in the process, leave out the important things. If we just remain who we are, which is much easier, we will be well positioned to gain the things God ordained for us as well as ‘occupy’ until He comes. For example whilst social media appears to steal the time of a number of believers around where I live, unbelievers seem to use it wisely and even earning income from it as they unwittingly push satan’s agenda thinking it is theirs with a deliberateness that one cannot but envy. We can’t waste most of our time and energy and yet “occupy till Christ returns. I wonder – do we really believe that He will return? Whilst it is true that our mind strays and we sometimes stray with it, we cannot continue like that. The price we pay for straying is too high. It is time to take charge of our minds with the help of the Holy Spirit and ensure that we are fulfilling our assignment wherever we find ourselves including whatever jobs we find ourselves doing. Every believer is on assignment wherever they find themselves; a point Christ buttressed in one of His parables as he explained to His disciples that the Kingdom of God would come, though not immediately, so they had to “occupy” on earth until He returns. We are His disciples today and so the instruction to ‘occupy’ is to us as we await His return. If we know that we ought to occupy, our decisions may be different. When He returns, what returns will He get on His investment in you?

Luke 19: 11b “he told them a parable to correct the impression that the Kingdom of god would begin right away.”

Luke 19: 13 – 14 “Before he left, he called together ten of his servants and divided among them ten pounds of silver, saying invest this for me while I am gone. But his people hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, we do not want him to be our king.”

To occupy speaks of filling up and/or gaining full attention of something or someone. Jesus Christ left us an instruction to occupy though we all know that He is not the most popular of Kings on earth just like the king in the parable. The world hates Him; indeed, there have always been and still are people who would give their lives to ensure that He is not King. It started with satan who is, unfortunately, in charge in many lives as a result of which he is in charge in several places since he rules through these people in whose lives he is in control and who believe in him wrongfully accepting his lordship. It is in the midst of such people that Jesus Christ demands that we turn around His investment in us. We are to take over in every area of life, socially, economically and so on. We are to set the trend and establish His government where we are. He has not asked us to physically take over established governments but that we establish His government spiritually. Every believer, especially in my Country, need to ask ourselves – are we turning around His investment in us? What are you doing with that job/business you have? Are you taking control for Christ establishing His government instead of the devil’s agenda or are you driven by personal ambition? To occupy is not to become a problem to the establishment but to take over ‘in the Spirit’ so that the God unto whom we are yielded is then in charge and this manifest in the physical. The bible tells us that our warfare and the weapons thereof are not carnal. We don’t force people to accept our faith, we let them hear about and experience it and then leave them to respond. When we occupy, God is in charge. Remember Naaman’s maid? She was not the boss but was in charge spiritually in the home where she served yet she did not seek to nor have to overthrow her boss to be in charge. She knew who she was and ensured that satan was not allowed to reign in her sphere of influence. She knew that though she was a maid, God had entrusted her with destinies of people and she was determined not to fail. Who is in charge in your area of influence? Some believers just want to be righteous and not ‘occupy’, that is dangerous; for their fate may be that of the servant in the parable who did nothing with the money he was given and had a problem with Christ.

Luke 19: 20 -22 “But the third servant brought back only the original amount of money and said, Master, I hid your money and kept it safe. I was afraid because you are a hard man to deal with . . . you wicked servant! The king roared. Your own words condemn you . . . then the king ordered, take the money from this servant, and give it to the one who has ten pounds.”

Esther almost suffered the same faith as the servant who lost all his money but for Mordecai. Initially, although she remained righteous and Jewish in the Kings palace, she did not ‘occupy’. It was not until her uncle reminded her of the reason God put her in the palace that she remembered she there ultimately for the establishment of God’s purpose. She had forgotten that she was more than just a wonderful wife and bearer of children but that she had the destiny of a people/nation in her hands. She was there as God’s battle axe to ‘occupy’. It is never too late to start as long as one starts. Esther had been in the palace for a while but she finally occupied. We fight to occupy on our knees and in the place of prayer as we prepare for the responsibilities that will follow in the physical. We will be required to do something as Esther and her people were required to act. Please listen for instructions from the Holy Spirit and obey. God wants to through us take over wherever we are; indeed that is why you are there. You can’t take charge physically when you are not in charge spiritually. Remember that the spiritual is more real than the physical. What one has not gotten in the spirit, they cannot own in the physical. Is Christ government enthroned in your life? You can’t enthrone that government if It is not enthroned in your life. Don’t just impose; take it in the spirit so that it comes easily in the physical.