Tag: Struggles

The enemy intends to make you suffer. 

Every action comes with bad motives. If the devil gives you a gift, it is for a bad purpose, and if he does not give any gift, he is making one of his bad moves on you. 

Either way, the enemy is out to get you!

If you are successful, the enemy is not happy about it. He is sad seeing that you are doing fine.

Exo 1:12 NET But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread. As a result, the Egyptians loathed the Israelites,

We must take every step that counters the enemies’ onslaught. The reward of doing this far outweighs the risk. 

Psa 118:6 NET The LORD is on my side, I am not afraid! What can people do to me?

The Bible also says Mat 10:28 NET Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Faith in God (to take a worthy risk), under the Oppressor, is the killer of fear.

God will reward you for the good you do.

Exo 1:17-21 NET 17 But the midwives feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live. 18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this and let the boys live?” 19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women – for the Hebrew women are vigorous; they give birth before the midwife gets to them!” 20 So God treated the midwives well, and the people multiplied and became very strong. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he made households for them.

The three Hebrew children refused to bow to a god. 

They risk their lives, but God rewarded them with His glorious presence. 

Daniel chose to pray to the sovereign God. They threw Daniel into a lion’s den. The lions could not touch him because God shut their mouth.

Job said, Job 13:15 NET Even if he slays me, I will hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face!

And Paul said, 2Ti 1:12 NET Because of this, in fact, I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, because I know the one in whom my faith is set and I am convinced that he is able to protect what has been entrusted to me until that day.

We know that faithful is He who had promised, who also will do it.

Amen!

The Oppressor does not give up on its victims. Its satisfaction is in the suffering of its victims. Does it care? No!

Slave masters do not like to lose their slaves. 

History told us that after the Emancipation Act, some slave masters still kept their act of slavery and did not let go of the slaves. The devil does the same thing. 

After your deliverance, the devil keeps trying day and night to get you compromised and lose hope so that you go back to your vomit.

The Bible refers to those who give up and return to the old lifestyle as fools.

Pro 26:11 NET Like a dog that returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.

Don’t be a fool!

Jesus gave a perfect illustration of this. The evil one does not easily give up on its prey.

Luk 11:24-27 NET 24 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a person, it passes through waterless places looking for rest but not finding any. Then it says, ‘I will return to the home I left.’ 25 When it returns, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so the last state of that person is worse than the first.” 27 As he said these things, a woman in the crowd spoke out to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed!”

You must rescue yourself like a gazelle. 

Pro 6:5 NET Deliver yourself like a gazelle from a snare, and like a bird from the trap of the fowler.

Fight hard to rescue your “gates” from the clutches of darkness. The devil wants to get in but do not give him the opportunity.

1Jn 2:15-16 NET 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, 16 because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions) is not from the Father, but is from the world.

Pray for us, oh Lord Jesus!

 

Note: the use of certain words reflects the potency of the meaning.

I have talked about how easy it is for anyone to give up on anything, but there’s another dimension to this.

There is another part of us that is unable to do anything and unable to make moves to experience freedom. 

It is unrelated to the human willingness to remain in perpetual bondage but a subconscious plus a  master-class act of the enemy that makes anyone unresponsive. 

It is similar to the bizarre experience you have in dreams when you are unable to do anything, especially when you are “pressed” to the bed against your will. I believe some understand what I am trying to convey. 

Judges 16:18-21 NET 18 When Delilah saw that he had told her his secret, she sent for the rulers of the Philistines, saying, “Come up here again, for he has told me his secret.” So the rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her, bringing the silver in their hands. 19 She made him go to sleep on her lap and then called a man in to shave off the seven braids of his hair. She made him vulnerable and his strength left him. 20 She said, “The Philistines are here, Samson!” He woke up and thought, “I will do as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not realize that the LORD had left him. 21 The Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him in bronze chains. He became a grinder in the prison.

The enemy weakens you and makes you unresponsive to the slightest impulse. 

I will give one more example. 

Jesus encouraged Peter to pray so that he could escape the temptation. I believe Peter wanted to pray. He probably made attempts. 

He made bold claims that he would 

Luk 22:31-34 NET 31 “Simon, Simon, pay attention! Satan has demanded to have you all, to sift you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” 33 But Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death!” 34 Jesus replied, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know me.”

He tried. He was too weak.  If he had prayed, the story could have been different.

This was the inertia state of man. It consists of the inability to do anything even though you want to, and it represents the weakest state of any man.

It is the most vulnerable condition that anyone cannot escape. 

Jesus saw his willingness, and He prayed for Peter.

So, Jesus, having been through all our problems prays for us all the time.

 Heb 4:15-16 NET 15 For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace whenever we need help.

I feel like if Jesus does not pray for us, we will still be saved but not victorious here on earth. 

Heb 7:25 NET So he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Yes, Jesus is still very busy in heaven working on our behalf. 

Rom 8:34 NET Who is the one who will condemn? Christ is the one who died (and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding for us.

Hallelujah!

The devil is the master of all liars. His biggest tool is lies. It is easy to deceive others with some big lies. 

So, why is lying so important?

It is because when others believe your lies, they listen to you, obey you and follow you.

That is, they become your “slaves” and you become their master. The whole intention is that you can “lord over” your subject if they can believe you. 

This is the whole scheme from the beginning. 

John 8:44 EasyEnglish You are the children of your father, the Devil. And you want to do the things that he wants. From the beginning, he was someone who killed people. He did not continue with what is true. There is nothing true in him. He says things that are not true. And then he is showing what he himself is like. He is the father of everything that is not true.

Those under addiction want out, but they have become “slaves” to it that it is difficult to lose the grip.

Paul explained this clearly. 

Rom 7:14-20 NET 14 For we know that the law is spiritual – but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin. 15 For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I do not do what I want – instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good. 17 But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me. 18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want! 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me.

But we have the victory in Jesus name!

1Co 15:57 NET But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

 Say this prayer: Satan, lose your grip over me in Jesus mighty name!

Chains are broken in the name of Jesus!

 

Liberation of the mind is the ultimate deliverance from the Oppressor.

Take a cue from the Israelites when in Egypt. They oppressed the Israelites. They truly wanted deliverance, but when the deliverer came, they were doubtful.

In fact, one betrayed Moses and shouted, “who made you lord over us”. They wanted deliverance but weren’t ready.

They constantly brutalized their physical bodies, and their minds were also in captivity.

If the mind is not free, the physical body can’t be free.

God had to remind them and reassure them again and again of His promises to get their mind to a liberated condition that would facilitate their ultimate freedom.

If your mind is not “free”, your life is likely clouded. If your mind is clogged, you won’t be able to see your future clearly. If your mind is blind, then you’re in the dark.

The ultimate freedom of man is the liberation of the mind.

You can “see” deeper things not through the eyes but through the mind.

Your other eye is your mind.

The intention of the Oppressor is to make you assume and believe all is well, whereas it is the opposite.

So, he repeats the same thing you like to hear or its preferences over and again until it becomes embedded in your mind.

It is a mind game that is damaging to our image and who we are.

It is a tactical way of forcing people to do your bidding.

The Egyptians ruthlessly forced the Israelis to serve them. Exodus 1:13

Be careful how you think. Your thoughts make you the person that you are.

The intention of liars is to make you believe that a false narrative is true, whereas it is not.

The devil is a liar and the father of liars. So, he lies to make false statements all the time. He deceived Eve by lying. 

The ultimate end of liars is destruction. 

1Ki 22:20-23 NET 20 The LORD said, ‘Who will deceive Ahab, so he will attack Ramoth Gilead and die there?’ One said this and another that. 21 Then a spirit stepped forward and stood before the LORD. He said, ‘I will deceive him.’ The LORD asked him, ‘How?’ 22 He replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ The LORD said, ‘Deceive and overpower him. Go out and do as you have proposed.’ 23 So now, look, the LORD has placed a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours; but the LORD has decreed disaster for you.”

I do not believe the devil is capable of speaking the truth. His nature is to deceive, and he does so every single day. 

John 8:44 NET You people are from your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

Because the devil speaks lies every time, he is able to deceive using immense pressure. He has servants, and they are constantly pressuring people of all kinds to do things against God’s will. 

The only way to overcome lies is to apply the truth. 

John 8:32 NET and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The truth is also a weapon that can destroy lies and all the pressures it brings. 

Eph 6:14 NET Stand firm therefore, by fastening the belt of truth around your waist, by putting on the breastplate of righteousness,