Your Unlimited Life (12 page)

Years ago T. L. Osborn said to me, “I may not make 120, but if I reach for it, maybe somebody following me will make it. If I don’t reach for it, they probably won’t reach for it either.” Someone has to start the process and break the norm, then pass it on. We are those people. We will believe for more.

5

TRUTH BRINGS LIGHT

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Satan is the source of all evil, but his power is limited. He can’t do anything he wants, nor can he touch just anybody he wants to touch. He is seeking whom he may devour. That tells us that he can only devour the lives of those who will allow him to do so.

We must be sober, self-controlled, vigilant, and watchful because Satan is constantly on the prowl, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:9 says,
“Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing...”
In other words, what you know is a major part of resisting the devil. Resisting him in the faith means that you can resist him with the Word because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). If you don’t know the Word, you can’t resist the devil, remaining steadfast in the faith.

There is no resistance to the devil available from secular magazines, newspapers, or even motivational speakers. We must have truth (God’s Word) working in us and flowing out of us to resist the devil.

A bank teller is trained to recognize counterfeit money, not by handling the counterfeit, but by handling the “real” stuff! We don’t need to spend time studying cults to recognize them. If we know the Word, we will be able to recognize the devil’s lies in whatever form they come.

I did not teach my children how to smoke pot so they would recognize it. I tried to teach them how to live righteously and how to use sound judgment. As a result, they can discern and understand things that are unrighteous.
If you are full of the Word, you will understand anything that is not of the Word.

Years ago I had a friend who taught comparative religions in churches and did seminars on the occult. He came to a point where he went totally bonkers. He was depressed and discouraged. One day I asked him what was going on and why the downturned countenance? He said, “I have spent so much time talking about what is wrong, it has destroyed my faith. I am not going to do any more seminars. I am doing nothing but reading the Word, getting my relationship back with God, and plugging in to the truth.” Truth will keep you free. If you talk about lies long enough, they will bring you into bondage.

Jesus said in John 10:10 that Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But what has to happen before he can do that and get away with it? He has to get us to believe a lie. He has to steal truth from us. If Satan can get you to believe a lie about your spouse, he can destroy your marriage. One such lie is, “He [or she] is not going to change, and you deserve to be happy. Leave him [or her] and get on with your life.”

You start thinking, “That’s right.” Then you have to spiritualize a lie: “Doesn’t God want me to be happy? If God wants me to be happy, then He must want me to leave my husband [or wife] because the only way I can be happy is to get away from him [her].” Now a lie, made to sound Christ-like, is running your life and is originated, by the devil, in deceit.

How often in life do we seek to find a co-signer for a lie, so you find a friend and say, “I’ve been thinking about leaving my husband because the Lord wants me to be happy.” The friend is sober and vigilant, so she says, “Sister, you are way off base. God called you to a lifetime commitment. God is going to bless your marriage and your faithfulness. He is going to change your marriage. Scripture says you can sanctify your husband. Let’s believe and pray the Word and turn this thing around.”

You are looking for someone to co-sign your lie, and your friend keeps bringing you the truth, so you go to another friend. “I think God wants me to leave my husband. Doesn’t God want me to be happy?” You’ve found someone who has the same lie working in them. She has a poor relationship, too. So this person says, “I think you are right. There is no condemnation in Christ, and God has not called us to bondage. I think you’d better leave that chump. You will probably be better off without him.” Now you’ve got a co-signer. The two of you agree and you start acting on the lie.

The same thing happens when you decide you are not going to tithe or you are not going to be committed to a church. Most of the time people do not leave a church by themselves. They leave in groups because they don’t have the guts to act on a lie by themselves. They have to find a co-signer to act on their lie. Sometimes people leave their church so they can get rid of their spouse. Or, they leave their church so they can stop serving and giving. Be alert to people who are looking for a co-signer for their lie. Be the first friend in this illustration, a person who, regardless of the situation at hand, will stand firm on the ways of God and the truth of His Word.

RENEWAL TRUTH

If the truth sets you free,

then lies will bring you into bondage.

(John 8:31-32)

H
OW
J
ESUS
H
ANDLED THE
D
EVIL
’
S
L
IES

In Matthew 4, Jesus gives us an example of how to handle the devil’s lies and deceptions.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

Matthew 4:1-3

This lie questions Jesus’ identity:
“If You are the Son of God.”
The voice of God had already revealed Jesus’ identity:
“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”
(Matthew 3:17). Satan’s question was to the voice of God and to the Word of God. What happens when you get thoughts, such as:

• “If I was healed, it seems like I’d feel better.”

• “If God wanted to prosper my life, it seems like I’d have more money.”

• “If the Word was true, it seems like things would be different.”

Satan does the same thing to you that he did to Jesus. “If you are the Son of God, do something to prove it.” He was planting a seed of doubt and unbelief by asking Jesus to prove His identity.

Remember, Genesis 3:1 said,
“The serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field.”
The issue here with Jesus’ confrontation by the devil isn’t about power; it’s about his ability to lie and deceive.

Satan has been stripped of his authority, but he has some power. It is his subtleties that we have to deal with. You can wipe out his power with the name of Jesus the same day you are saved! That doesn’t mean you are smart enough to keep from being tricked, deceived, or lied to, which is the issue. We are so worried about having power over the devil that we fail to realize that is not the problem. We’ve got power over the devil, but if he lies to us and we are dull in our thinking and hearing, he is able to succeed in deceiving us.

Satan said to Jesus,
If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread
(Matthew 4:3). After forty days of fasting, it was natural for Jesus to want some bread. Wouldn’t it have been a natural response for Him to say, “I have the right to make some bread. I am God and I am hungry”? Satan always sets you up in a position where it would seem okay to go ahead and flow with his lie. That’s what happens when people compromise. “Don’t I have the right to be happy?” Well, of course you do! “To be happy I am going to have to leave my spouse,” or, “I am going to have to have sex before I am married,” or, “I can’t tithe this month.” Satan sets us up to compromise Scripture and to go against the Word of God.

One argument of the secular world is, “Are you telling me that a woman who has been raped and becomes pregnant, should she bear the burden and carry the pain all of her life and make a child suffer for that terrible crime?” “No, I wouldn’t tell you that. I guess you’d better go ahead and kill the baby.” See, it seems logical. How could we be so terrible as to put the woman through that?

We missed the whole point. How can we, as a society, get to the place where we kill our kids? Let’s get back to reality instead of considering what seems and feels and sounds right. When we start reasoning with the devil, we get caught up in deception.

The devil says to Jesus, “If You are the Son of God, make bread.” That sounds good. What is wrong with making bread after fasting for forty days and forty nights? Obviously, Jesus whipped the devil so why would He need to make bread? Is it only to prove that He is the Son of God? Why would He have to prove it? Because we don’t believe what God said:
“This is My beloved Son.”
It all goes back to
questioning the Word
. Anytime you are lied to by the devil, in the end, it gets back to questioning the Word.

Jesus said,
“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’”
(Matthew 4:4)
.
What Word came from God?
“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”
(Matthew 3:17). Jesus responded to Satan with the Word. We must have an understanding of the Word to keep ourselves free from Satan’s lies. If you don’t know the Word, you are susceptible to lies.