Is it not Satan himself who is trying to outlaw spanking and disciplining of children on “humanistic” grounds? Is it not he that causes children to rule their parents? I am witnessing this new devilish system everywhere. Are we supposed to fight this system? Not at all! God tells us clearly “resist not evil” (Mt. 5:39) because, you see, EVIL ALSO HAS TO RIPEN that it may be harvested and thrown into the fire. (Rev. 14:17-19) So this is not against the plan of God, this IS THE PLAN OF GOD. He always has ways of how to outwit the devil and protect the parents who want to live His Word. Our task is not to fight evil, not to resist it, rather, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Rom. 12:21) Also, we should hinder evil by our presence and prayers. (2Thess. 2:7) Let me say it in a brief form:
RELIGION IN FLESH RESISTS AND FIGHTS EVIL. THE SPIRIT OF GOD IN FLESH HINDERS EVIL AND OVERCOMES IT WITH GOOD.
Evil is fast overcoming this world and the false church (paper Christians) and it is quite natural and prophesied. We will not save the world or improve it; we should rather hasten unto the Day of God. (2Pet. 3:12) As we read, evil grows and increases day by day and no man will stop it. Its ripening and harvest is mentioned above as a spiritual fact, but there is something deeper in this fact which touches us personally. There is a principle involved, which includes our personal maturing and growth and also the Glory of the Lord.
God does not judge a seed but waits until its fruit has grown out of it. (Mt. 13:28-30// Rev. 14:18-20) This means that God does not judge any initial appearances of evil or their immediate consequences. God waits. Not only that, He may cause or allow His true believers and servants to “go longer and deeper into evil” and experience greater effects of it before God finally judges it. Have you experienced that?
Any move of God is resisted by hell and God seemingly allows it “not paying too much attention to it”. But His servants may sometimes be quite frustrated and may not understand this kind of approach. We often tend to use a sledge-hammer on any fly that appears evil, and that as soon as possible. Clearly, this is not God’s way.
One typical example of the above may be illustrated from the Book of Exodus where Pharaoh kept resisting God and frustrated His efforts through Moses and Aaron for a very long time. So, why did God allow this little mortal creature to stand against Him for such a long time? Was it a question of God’s patience? I do not believe so.
One reason is that the powers of hell are to be exposed as fully as necessary and almost exhausted before the Lord decides to act. So, He may allow hell to come to their end, exhaust their wits, power, stubbornness, resistance and then He begins to execute His Judgment.
The second reason is that when the Lord shows His true Power and Wisdom, He obtains Glory. In the case of Pharaoh, God obtained Glory throughout the earth. (Ex. 9:16; 10:2// Rom. 8:17)
We may not experience such profound examples as did Moses and Aaron, yet, the above principle of God applies also to us and our circumstances. Sometimes our battle with the powers of darkness is protracted and does not seem to have an end. It taxes our patience, perseverance, endurance, faith and spiritual capacity; and this increases our strength and power and it is also thankworthy in the eyes of the Lord Himself! (1Pet. 2:19)
g) My experiences show me that my spiritual state and behaviour can profoundly affect others around me. If I am dead, I spread death around, and if I am alive, I spread life around. This same principle applies to every area of our spiritual life and, in fact, to our social life, as well.
If I were with another 7 soldiers in a battle position and 6 of them would one day say: “Ah, to hell with this battle, we are fed-up, we quit!”, where would that leave me and the other soldier by my side? A seasoned soldier would know immediately, but many Christians may wonder with an open mouth what I mean. But this is PRECISELY what happened also to me. Satan knew very well what he was doing and why those Christian “soldiers” that were with me deserted me; they were too selfish, too proud, too foolish and too blind. So the Lord in His Wisdom allowed that only two of us would remain in that particular battlefield. There might be a question asked; how can the two of us continue and hope for the same success in our war? Well, the answer is always in the Word of God because God foreknows all things and He always makes all the necessary provisions since He can clearly foresee them all. God says:
“O, that they (those 6 soldiers), were wise, that they understood this, that THEY WOULD CONSIDER THEIR LATTER END! HOW SHOULD ONE CHASE A THOUSAND, AND TWO PUT TEN THOUSAND TO FLIGHT…” (Deut. 32:29,30a)
This Word of Our Lord gives us strength, hope and assurance of victory even now, when we are only two in this small war theatre. But instead of two thousand, we are able to chase ten thousand. Should we be four living ones, we might chase one million (this is the Lord’s mathematics). This also shows that the “dead believers” never count in the war since they cannot “chase anybody”! We never know what the Lord has planned and prearranged, but it is always good, profitable and His Word never fails.
h) Speaking about spiritual blindness, no man will ever admit that he is blind! He, in fact, cannot admit such an incredible thing because HE DOES NOT SEE THAT HE DOES NOT SEE! HE NEEDS THE LIGHT FROM GOD TO START SEEING! This Light comes by believing those that do see. (Rom. 10:17) FAITH IS LIGHT. It is not easy or simple, and there is usually a long preparation of such a blind believer, to take a step of faith and start receiving his spiritual eyesight. But a closed heart likes darkness and does not need God’s Light!
Whenever Apostle Paul says: “I would not have you ignorant” (Rom. 11:25// 1Cor. 12:1// 1Thess. 4:13) he simply means: “I want you to see, understand and realize!” He says that because of the simple fact that our Salvation brings us new eyes, ears, taste, smell and touch! Pagans are all spiritually dead because they are spiritually blind, deaf, insensitive and cannot smell, touch or taste spiritual things. So are the carnal Christians, who have not developed or trained these spiritual senses (Heb. 5:14) because these senses belong only to a maturing New Man.
But the Spirit gives us these new spiritual senses. That is why the Lord said to those that were listening to Him and each had two ears: “He that has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Mt. 11:15, also Deut. 29:4// Ps. 115:4-8// Is. 30:20,21// Jer. 5:21// Ez. 12:2, etc.)
Have you ever pondered such “unrealistic” statements of Our Lord? It is, of course, not about hearing sounds but hearing the spiritual truth that the sound brings us. But the Lord knew their hearts where the seat of spiritual senses happens to be. He knew that…
…IN THEIR HEART THEY DID NOT WANT TO HEAR THE TRUTH! AND IN THEIR HEART THEY DID NOT WANT TO SEE THE REALITY! IS YOUR HEART THE SAME? DO YOU KNOW?
I speak to many of you because I have truly endless experiences with an endless number of believers and also with myself. So you cannot fool me. If believers would truly like to hear or see, they would act differently, they would take a totally different approach, display a different attitude. They would ask, search, enquire and not crawl into their “hole” and remain silent! And if you cannot believe this simple fact, then you do not have the faintest clue about our old nature, which is so deceitful, foxy, touchy and possesses weapons that we may not understand ourselves. It is like that snail that hides inside its shell immediately when it is even slightly touched. It is its natural instinct.
Why is it like that? Because for us to hear or see the truth means that what is untrue inside of us is confronted and must come out. God has to bring out of our soul whatever He sees there as untrue, false, unacceptable, unprofitable, unhealthy and destroy it… with our permission. That causes certain pain, suffering even shame on our part as the price for the eyesight and revelation that God wants to give us. That is precisely the reason why we prefer to crawl into our “hole” and remain silent. But a few of us know that in doing so, we are exponentially increasing the pain and suffering, which will come to us later on, instead of securing a peaceful and joyful future. Because in that “hole”, we won’t change for the better, we will grow much worse. But even this is the characteristic of the sinful and stupid “old man”, who thinks that in that “hole” he will be safe and fine.
i) The Lord usually does not ask us to do things that we can do. He asks us to do things we cannot do! Why? My many experiences are that the Lord’s first reason seems to be to show us that without Him and His power, we are totally impotent to do any spiritual work or task. His Word is thus proven true. (Jn. 15:5) Though we can do many things without Him, but they will all result in nothing!
The Lord’s second reason may be perceived as setting before us a need to come to Him and seek His Way, His Answer, His Power, His Wisdom, that is to say, Himself. If we would only do for the Lord what we can do in our own power, we would never need to go to Him. That includes the working out of our own Salvation, which for us to do without Him is absolutely impossible to even dream about. No man can change his own heart, his own character or dispose of his own sinful nature. That is absolutely impossible. And we find the same problem if we just try to “help” our brethren in their Salvation process. This work is simply outside of our power, wisdom and capacity.
Therefore, whenever we stand in front of a very great problem, impossible or dangerous situation, impasse, wall of Jericho, blind alley with no way out or no solution, we should immediately realize and believe that the Lord knows all about it. Furthermore, He prepared it for us! Finally, He has the solution, the way out and He knows exactly what to do! You see, He is God! HE KNOWS EVERYTHING, and if there is no way, He can create a way. There is nothing too hard for Him to do. (Gen. 18:14// Deut. 17:8// Jer. 32:17) This “theory” must one day become our living experience.
WE SHOULD STOP LOOKING AT THE PROBLEM AND START LOOKING AT THE LORD! (Heb. 12:2) This could reverse our problem or a “hopeless” situation within minutes! I do not say that it is easy. NO! Even a thought of turning to the Lord never crosses our mind unless we are in a hopeless or dangerous situation. Before, we were used to asking questions and were very satisfied to get “right answers”. At this stage, there are no answers from anyone, that is, except from the Lord. But His answer does not come in the same way. We must open our heart and come to Him with trust and faith. And that is exactly what that trouble or problem was designed for by Him to accomplish in us.
It would not help us if we were just told something by someone. At this stage, there must be something DONE in our heart to overcome and “get true answers” this way. We learn by life experiences from the Lord and not just by asking questions. We have to endure even this kind of life’s training. It contains suffering, pain, wondering when will it all end, if ever, amazement, bewilderment, and other reactions within our soul. We do feel the associated pressures.
We would always be on the safe side if we were just aware of the fact that behind problems, obstacles, danger, impasse, enmity, impossible situations, conflicts, battles, etc., we always find the powers of evil and darkness! Without exception! Therefore, not one of these situations can be satisfactorily resolved unless we deal with those powers. And this can only be done through Christ, Who strengthens us. (Phil. 4:13) This strengthening must also be done in us before the conflict occurs and not at the same moment. We must come to our conflicts already with a sufficient spiritual strength and capacity to combat the enemy powers and root them out. Otherwise, we will find out our spiritual weaknesses and the battle in question would have to be repeated until we are strong enough to win it.
If we do not deal with these powers, we might be able to “fix” the problem temporarily so that it would seem that the problem disappeared and was resolved. NOT SO! The root of it remained and only its symptoms receded. It is much like an illness. If you only treat your fever, you are not treating what is the chief cause of your fever. Fever is never the problem, only a symptom, or “weapon” of your body to defend itself against some other more dangerous problems. Every physician will tell you that.
Without the Lord, we cannot hope to battle and win over any spiritual problems and thus get them permanently resolved. That is the reason why we might continue living in a spiritual misery and this spiritual misery then brings about the misery of our soul and body. And we may be wondering why we are so sick while we are taking all those pills and treatments. There are no pills to treat our spirit!
j) The most effective and devastating weapon the Lord has given us to destroy the kingdom of darkness in our soul is – TEARS! I know, it does not sound as a mighty weapon in the muscular hand of a valiant fighter. Every man might smirk at this and give you a very strange look (women might be far more understanding in this).
“But God has chosen the FOOLISH things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the WEAK things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And the BASE things of this world, and things which are DESPISED, has God chosen, yea, and things which ARE NOT, to bring to nought things that are.” (1Cor. 1:27,28)
I have seen many battles where tears had destroyed the powers, which seemed so mighty and proud and arrogant and defying and unwilling to quit and leave the soul of the believer. (Ps. 126:5,6 + many other references) No amount of religious education can do THAT. No amount of personal wishing, desire, or even prayers can do that, unless the prayers lead to repentance in tears. Our tears are the true “holy water”. If you sprinkle the hellish powers with them, they flee.
If a believer has never truly repented and shed tears before the Lord for himself, he may be 100% sure that his soul is occupied and ruled by the powers of evil and darkness! PLEASE, keep reading, this may save you from a mountain of pain, suffering, misery and finally your death. The Lord is able to give you the light you may have never seen, heard or understood in your entire life. And I am not elevating myself in telling you this truth. I am telling you this and many other truths because I AM LIVING WHAT I AM WRITING IN THIS BOOK! These truths of God are not a theory or theology for me but a living reality. I myself have shed “rivers” of tears in the first years of my Salvation.
I have also seen and witnessed obscure believers who had more power and authority from the Lord than many “famous” preachers or ministers. The obscure ones are like “nobodies” (just as I am) and yet, Satan fears them more than many of the “mighty ones” who may preach to thousands, even millions of listeners. God’s ways are clearly different and much higher than our foolish ways. So are His thoughts. (Is. 55:8,9)
There are four points I want to underline and bring to your attention at this time and place. These are not theoretical points, they are from my own experience and ministry.
j1) THE MOST IMPORTANT POWERS THAT SHAPE MAN’S LIFE AND DESTINY ARE THOSE THAT MAN IS NOT AWARE OF! HE DOES NOT SEE THEM, DOES NOT FEEL THEM, DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THEM AND WOULD NEVER ADMIT THAT SUCH MAY EVEN EXIST IN HIMSELF AND INFLUENCE HIS LIFE!
THEREFORE, GOD HAD TO PERSONALLY INTERVENE AND “SPEAK” THE TRUTH INTO OUR LIFE. AND HE DID… BY HIS SON! (HEB. 1:1,2), THAT IS, BY HIS WORD. SHALL WE RECEIVE AND LIVE HIS WORD?
Every believer should freely admit that he was never seeking his Salvation. He might have been seeking “something” but not his Salvation. True? It took God to come down and seek us, open our eyes, heart and faith for us to see, admit, believe, repent and be baptized.
GOD IS SIMILARLY COMING DOWN NOW WITH HIS WORD AND JUDGMENT. HE IS INTERVENING IN OUR AFFAIRS SHOWING US PLAINLY THAT WE NEITHER SEEK THE LORD, NOR HIS KINGDOM! (Mt. 6:33// Acts. 17:26,27// Jam. 4:8, etc.)
WE ARE SEEKING EVERYTHING ELSE. And if God would not tell us even today, after 2,000 years, we would, again, not be aware of it! Is that true?
If you are unable to believe the above fact, your unbelief will not annul it. The unbelief of pagans does not wipe out the existence of God and all that He created and established. They will just find out later on.
If you are able to believe the above fact, the Lord can start His work in you immediately in showing you the roots (or bunkers) of those powers of darkness and evil in your soul. And then He will show you how HE will destroy them in you and liberate you. He may do it in you directly or, usually, through His servants, whom He has sovereignly chosen and tried in the fire (Rev. 3:18), who are thus able to serve Him and minister to His Body.
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To be continued next week in part 3
brother Hanola
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