Written by Pastor Ray Leonard
(2 Corinthians 2:11) “Unless Satan takes advantage of us, (or outwit us), we are ‘NOT IGNORANT’ of his devices”.
What kind of ‘devices’ is the Apostle talking about, and why is it so important that we are ‘wise to them’ and not ignorant of them?
Paul talks about someone who obviously sinned, and went under strict discipline to help correct him, but now he says to the church, “forgive him, confirm your love toward him, and comfort him, unless he is swallowed up with much sorrow”.
If some brother or sister has sinned, and repents, and changes his life under discipline, and comes back to the Lord, humbles himself and submits to the Lordship of Christ we must accept him, and receive him back as a brother or sister in the Lord.
One of the devices of the enemy is to get us to believe and live by our own jaded opinions instead of the Word of God.
If he can get us to follow our own thinking and be unforgiving, instead of obeying the Word of God, and the law of forgiveness, the devil has taken advantage of us.
And that advantage comes about either ignorantly, or willingly which is nothing less than rebellion. We must understand that Satan is a ‘master liar’. He’s really good at what he does.
And Satan is able to make his lies sound more like truth, than truth itself. If we don’t take our stand and determine to hold fast to the Word of God, we will be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.
And then we will be unstable in all our ways (Scripture calls that a double-mind – (James 1:7-8).
James tells us “Let not the double-minded man expect to receive anything from the Lord, because He’s unstable in all his ways. He’s like a wave of the sea tossed to and fro (back and forth).
And know, that a double-mind is a weak carnal mind. A double mind is a sinful mind, a mind that can’t be settled.
It’s a mind that cannot or will not hold fast to the Word of the Living God. And that double mind is a mind that is filled with fear and confusion.
It is eventually tossed out farther and farther into the depths of the dark sea of doubt.
An article entitled:
DELIVERANCE: WHAT YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT IMMEDIATELY. THERE’S NO TIME TO LOSE“, is an article that will help you understand this subject much better.
Doubt and unbelief aren’t the same thing. Doubt is wavering between uncertainty and certainty. Doubt kind of believes, and wants to believe, but can’t seem to get the assurance it needs.
Doubt is ‘kind of believing the Word, and then doubting it. A double mind is a tortured mind. If this person wants to believe the Word, but is struggling with his belief, he will fight to conquer his doubt.READ: GOD’S WONDERFUL PROTECTION FOR CHILDRENAnd if his desire to believe is not strong enough to persist while he fights this battle, he will finally give up.
But if believing means everything to him/her, they will fight, calling on God to see them through the battle for faith through the long and trying night until faith is established.
While some people struggle with doubt and want to believe, ‘THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE WHO DOUBT BECAUSE ‘THEY DON’T WANT TO BELIEVE.’
Yes, that’s right. There are some people who are looking for reasons to doubt God and His Word. They actually don’t want to become believers. These people are offended by the Word of God, and don’t want to believe that there’s a God they must obey and give an account to. So, we see that their doubt is different from a sincere persons doubt that truly wants to believe God.
Doubt is struggling to believe God’s Word, and is wanting to win the battle.
Unbelief is settled doubt. Unbelief is no longer a double-mind. Unbelief has thrown off the weakness of doubt in favor of a fixed and final position.
And that position that they have taken is firmly against God and His Word, and that’s called ‘UNBELIEF’. And that fixed and final condition of unbelief is ‘WICKED TO THE CORE’.
(Hebrews 3:12) “Take heed brethren, lest there be in any of you ‘AN EVIL HEART OF UNBELIEF’ in Departing From the Living God’.
Be warned, a heart of Unbelief is an ‘Evil Heart’, and it causes those who have it to depart from the living God.
Is there any hope for such a person. There’s always hope even in seemingly impossible situations.
So, if someone for one reason or the other, wants God now, when he never has wanted Him before and cries out for the Lord’s mercy, God will never turn him away.
Prayer is very powerful and if you pray for him and take his case to the Throne of Grace, with love, persistence, and faith, that prayer will have great power.
God will then bring situations, circumstances, and conditions to bear on a family or friend that will cause him to need God, and want God wherein, before prayer he didn’t.
Now, it’s true, he still has a will and mind of his own, and God will never force anyone to accept Him. He must make that choice on his own. However, chances are very good that your prayers have or will, very soon avail very much.
WE HAVE DETERMINED THAT WE WILL NOT BE IGNORANT OF SATAN’S DEVICES.
When we accept that premise, we have weakened our doubts in favor of faith.
When the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian church and said, “Finally my brethren, ‘BE STRONG IN THE LORD AND IN THE POWER OF HIS MIGHT’… , Paul was letting the Ephesians know that the only kind of strength that can stand against, enemy lies, enemy invasions, and enemy attacks is the supernatural power of Almighty God.
Read BE STRONG IN THE LORD.
THERE IS NO CHALLENGE TO THE GOD OF POWER. There is no challenge to the power of our God who created the sun, moon, stars, and the earth and the fullness thereof.
READ: FAITH CHANGES EVERYTHING
“LET THE WEAK SAY I AM STRONG”. So, let the doubter become the ‘BELIEVER’.
Then let the unbeliever repent of his wickedness, and of his wicked heart, and receive the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and become what the Bible calls, ‘A NEW CREATURE’, or ‘CREATION’.
Further reading: STOP YOUR DOUBTING THIS INSTANT: WARNING.
(2 Corinthians 5:17) “If any man be in Christ he is a new (creation), old things are passed away, behold all things are become new”. Double your blessing today and read the article CHILD OF THE KING.
The great miracle is that God changes the sinner. No sin is too great for God to forgive if one truly from their heart repents, turns from his sins, and receives Christ as his Lord and Savior.
The greater the sin and bondage that man finds himself in, the greater the miracle of salvation and deliverance, and the greater the glory that is passed on to God.
WE ARE NOT IGNORANT OF SATAN’S DEVISES. BUT MUCH OF THE CHURCH IS.
THEY DON’T WANT TO FACE THE FACT THAT WE’RE WARRING AGAINST A POWERFUL ENEMY.
READ: WEAPONS OF WARFARE
We’re warring against the Devil and his spirits of wickedness. These spirits were persuaded over long periods of time to switch their loyalty from a loving faithful God to a lying deceiver who wanted to be ‘God’.
The Prince of Darkness wanted to overthrow God’s throne, and sit as ruler of the entire universe.
Get a better understanding of the mind of Satan when he thought to overthrow God’s kingdom and sit on God’s throne by reading the article SATAN IS NOT CALLED THE GOD OF THIS WORLD FOR NOTHING.
THINK OF IT, SATAN CORRUPTED A THIRD OF THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN TO REBEL, WITH HIM, AGAINST THE GREAT GOD OF HEAVEN.
Thank God they failed, and God cast them out of heaven with the most powerful lightning bolt ever experienced in heaven or hell.
READ: MY CHILD, ATTEND TO MY WORDS, THEY ARE LIFE AND HEALING READ: MY FAITH MIXED WITH THE SOLID WORD FOR HEALING
Can you imagine, what it would have been like if Satan had succeeded in overthrowing God, and he becoming God? His wickedness knows no bounds, and we would remain his cringing slaves, and spend an eternity serving the worst tyrant this universe has ever known.
THANK GOD, WE ARE NOT IGNORANT OF HIS DEVICES?
If we would be, we’d be, and remain his captives for ever.
MUCH OF THE CHURCH HAS BELIEVED THE LIE OF THE ENEMY, THAT SATAN IS INCAPABLE OF TELLING THE TRUTH AND AS A RESULT, WE ARE IGNORANT OF ANOTHER SATANIC DEVICE.
It is true that Satan is a liar and the father of all lies. And it is true that as the scripture says, “there is no truth in him”. But what does that mean? How are we to interpret that?
44 John 8:44 “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
When Jesus said, “There is no truth in Satan”, he couldn’t have meant that it was impossible for him to tell the truth, because of several reasons.
ONE: He couldn’t give orders to his spirits of wickedness if he couldn’t tell the truth.
WHY?
Because he’d have to lie to them, and he’s not going to do that because he could never get them to understand his destructive orders to his demons to fulfill his evil desires and fulfill his plans, because then his kingdom would collapse.
READ: I WILL PRAISE YOU LORD
He has to be able to tell the truth to be able to give accurate orders to his demons. We know that Satan gives clear and understandable instructions to his demon spirits.
We know that because if he couldn’t he could never work his destructive plans against his deadly enemies, the Christians. And his instructions involve him telling the truth, or it would cause total chaos in his kingdom.
Just because Satan is the ‘Father of all lies’ doesn’t mean he lost the ability to tell the truth.
READ: REDEEMED FROM THE CURSE READ: IS THE DELIVERANCE MINISTRY NEEDED ANY LONGER?
There must be no confusion, no mistake in the Devil’s orders as to the carrying out of his deadly plans.
He must be able to pinpoint that particular area of destruction, or particular and specific order to Destroy.
For only then can he make one sick, or cause a car accident, or cause a spouse to betray his significant other. And that skill comes with Lucifer’s great ability to communicate Truth.
READ: THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT
Now, when Jesus said, there is no truth in Satan, he meant that his heart is so bent on lying, so desirous to destroy through lies, that he found lying to humanity was the easiest and quickest way to accomplish his goal. He also discovered that his destructive lies would also deceive much quicker if he seeded the lies with variable amounts of truth.
Have you stopped to think, that some of Satan’s greatest works of deception haven’t started with a lie, but with truth.
If he tells 100% lies to a man who knows nothing about the Word, he can deceive him, because he doesn’t know the ‘Word of Truth’, the holy Bible.
READ: BE RELEASED FROM WORD CURSES READ: CHILD OF GOD, WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?
But if a godly Christian who knows the Word of God well, knows the truth and Satan’s lies, he won’t be deceived, right?
But with one who knows the Word well, he’ll start out slowly telling 99% truth. Because Satan tells 99% truth it doesn’t alert the Christian that it is Satan talking to him.
But then the Devil will tell him 98% truth and probably will get away with it. Then Satan will inject an exciting 5% lie, and tell him 95% truth, then increase the lie slowly more and more, slowly leading the Christian into error.
And if that Christian isn’t praying, being vigilant, and being watchful , or staying close enough to God, he will swallow the lies with the truth.
READ: SEATED WITH CHRIST IN HEAVENLY PLACES READ: DO YOU HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST?
IF WE ARE NOT IGNORANT OF SATAN’S DEVICES, WE WILL UNDERSTAND THAT THIS MASTER LIAR, IS ABLE TO TELL THE TRUTH, AND IT IS THE TRUTH MIXED WITH THE LIE THAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR HIM TO DECEIVE US.
Not only do we have to know the Word, and be living by it, we also need something else. And that something else that we need is the ‘GIFT OF DISCERNING OF SPIRITS’.
By this gift we are able to perceive, and understand what’s happening in the realm of the spirit.
READ: FAITHFULNESS, WHAT IS IT? READ: WE TRUST WITH OUR HEART, AND UNDERSTAND WITH OUR MIND
We are able through that gift to know that he has been planning to destroy something in our life, family, church, or nation. (I John 4:1) “Try the spirits and see whether they be of God…”
The gift of discerning of spirits enables (at the higher level) to hear and see into the spirit world. (I Cor. 12:10)
This gift enables us to hear his plans many miles away. We can see him with many evil spirits attempting to get in the back door of our house and destroy our family, or another family.
Being able to see and hear his plans, enables us to protect ourselves with the Word of God, and the Armor of God, and to pray and to do spiritual warfare. (Read THE ARMOR OF GOD)
By seeing what Satan’s up to enables us, then, to use our most powerful weapon against the Devil, praying in the Spirit, or praying in holy Ghost Tongues.
It enables us to go to THE COURTS OF HEAVEN and ask for a ruling against what Satan is about to do and stop him in his tracts. (Be further blessed by reading article
The Holy Spirit, through the Gift of Discerning of Spirits enables us to war in the spirit and in tongues against what Satan is about to do, or is trying to do.
(Rom. 8:26-28) “Likewise, the Spirit also helps us in our weaknesses and makes intercession for us, for we know not what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
For He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. For we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose (or are fitting into His plans)”.
IF WE ARE NOT IGNORANT OF SATAN’S DEVICES, THEN WE, OUR FAMILY, OUR CHURCH WILL EXPERIENCE VICTORY, JOY, PEACE, IN THE HOLY GHOST.
(READ: GOD WANTS YOU IN HIS FAMILY).
(Rom 14:17) This scripture tells us what the kingdom of God consists of.
ANOTHER TRUTH THAT BLASTS THE MISCONCEPTION THAT HAS BEEN TOLD TO THE CHURCH, ‘HE CANNOT TELL THE TRUTH’, IS THE FACT THAT SATAN WILL NEVER LIE TO GOD.
WHY NOT?
Because Satan dwelt in heaven for perhaps millions and millions of years before he sinned and was cast out. He understands that God knows all things and you can’t tell God anything that He doesn’t already know.
READ: IS DELIVERANCE A DIRTY WORD?
So, Satan knows that if he were to lie to God, God would know the truth and know Satan was lying to him.
And Satan knows that would bring upon him severe punishment from God in the now, and in the ‘here after’. That would mean he’d be severely punished now, even before he would be cast into the ‘LAKE OF FIRE’.
SO, MY BROTHER/SISTER, WE WILL NOT BE IGNORANT OF SATAN’S DEVICES, AND AS A RESULT, WE WILL HAVE VICTORY, AND NOT DEFEAT.
WE WILL SEE MORE SOULS SAVED, MORE PEOPLE HEALED, MORE PEOPLE DELIVERED, MORE PEOPLE RECEIVE THE BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND MORE PEOPLE BLESSED.
CAN YOU SAY AMEN?
(CHECK OUT ARTICLES ON – SPEAKING IN TONGUES. YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS THOSE). GOD BLESS YOU.
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