This post begins a progression of thoughts regarding overcoming. The Lord has been opening this up and walking me through process for months...and we're still walking and talking. What a wonderful, patient, kind Father He is! There is so much yet to learn but I have felt the prompt to begin sharing what I've experienced so far to bring encouragement and help to those who may be feeling more "overwhelmed" than "overcoming". Please comment and add your own experiences of how God is helping you to overcome. Big or little, we'd love to hear your stories! Every one of them is a testimony to the goodness of God and carries the power to help others.
Several months ago, I had an interaction with a friend that kick-started a fresh, personal conversation with the Lord about positioning ourselves for overcoming. The individual had watched a television program that, at least initially, appeared to be a fairly straightforward recounting of the last days of Jesus but ended with strong statements dismissing Jesus' death and resurrection and the validity of the Bible as the Word of God. Nothing was known about who produced the program but the network it was aired on has a track record for releasing material that stirs controversy - perfectly within their license to do as we, thankfully, live in a nation of free speech and press. As a fellow believer, however, my friend was rather disturbed by what he saw. I asked him what he expected to receive from this media outlet and he responded, "I know, but we have to know our enemy. We have to know their tactics." This seems to be a fairly common mindset, so I asked the Lord what He thought about it. This was His response:
"Why study the false when it's the Truth Who will set you free?"
This was immediately followed by a flood of promises from His Word:
"Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)
"Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32)
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come." (Luke 4:18-19, see also Isaiah 61:1-3)
"Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do." (Joshua 1:8)
"But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it." (James 1:25)
"And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." (Philippians 4:8)
I continued to ask the Lord to reveal more about this and the following is what came out of our conversation. The heart of our Father is that we would pursue knowing Him rather than spend our precious energy trying to know our enemy. We encounter the culture of Satan daily - we are already quite familiar with him. Our heavenly Father has instructed us that the devil is the Father of Lies and there is no truth in him (John 8:44). We are well-informed about his ways and are free from any pressure to be preoccupied with gathering more knowledge about his tactics in an attempt to defend God. Our Father is not searching for a good defense attorney as much as He is desiring an honest witness. It was at this point the Lord reminded me who the enemy really is. People are not our enemies - Satan and evil principalities are:
"Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:11-12)
The strategies of the enemy are many and we could run ourselves ragged chasing every flaming arrow he shoots our way in an attempt to quench the subsequent fires they begin. This, of course, is precisely what he wants. Deception, distraction and intimidation are the primary goals behind every attack he launches. It is a blueprint designed to keep us from ongoing, intimate fellowship with our Father. In my spirit I heard the Lord say,
"Your best defense is a good offense!"
When I asked what that meant, He reminded me of this analogy: When financial institutions train bank tellers how to identify counterfeit bills, they don't have them try to learn all the different kinds of false currency - they study the real one. They learn the authentic so well they can spot the counterfeit a mile away and immediately take it out of circulation. In the same way, this is how we can become effective witnesses and ambassadors for Christ. Rather than studying all the ways of the counterfeit, we can learn the genuine, investing our time, energy and attention in really knowing Jesus and our Father.
We live in an hour in which the enemy has been given "freedom of speech" (this will not always be the case as his time is marked - see Revelation 20:7-10). It doesn't mean, however, that we have to tune into him today. Those who accept the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ and are born anew into the family of God, have the wonderful privilege to choose where we will invest our attention every day. And we have the promise of the Spirit of God working powerfully within us to help us stay on track (Phil 2:13). His sheep will know His voice and will follow Him. They will not be led astray (deceived, distracted) by a strange voice. They will follow the Shepherd and be led into good pasture and life abundant (John 10:1-30).
Learning the voice and ways of our heavenly Father and His Kingdom enables us to recognize the voice and ways of the enemy and empowers us to immediately pull those out of circulation in our thoughts, speech and attitudes. In this way we take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and destroy the strongholds of the enemy (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). This begins first within ourselves and, as we change, it influences those around us (more on that in a future post). It is in the place of consistent, intimate fellowship with God that we rise up above the barrage of fiery darts from the enemy and begin to position ourselves to take out his fortress! More on positioning for strike in the next post.
"Why study the false when it's the Truth Who will set you free?"
This was immediately followed by a flood of promises from His Word:
"Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come." (Luke 4:18-19, see also Isaiah 61:1-3)
"Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do." (Joshua 1:8)
"But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it." (James 1:25)
"And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." (Philippians 4:8)
I continued to ask the Lord to reveal more about this and the following is what came out of our conversation. The heart of our Father is that we would pursue knowing Him rather than spend our precious energy trying to know our enemy. We encounter the culture of Satan daily - we are already quite familiar with him. Our heavenly Father has instructed us that the devil is the Father of Lies and there is no truth in him (John 8:44). We are well-informed about his ways and are free from any pressure to be preoccupied with gathering more knowledge about his tactics in an attempt to defend God. Our Father is not searching for a good defense attorney as much as He is desiring an honest witness. It was at this point the Lord reminded me who the enemy really is. People are not our enemies - Satan and evil principalities are:
"Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:11-12)
The strategies of the enemy are many and we could run ourselves ragged chasing every flaming arrow he shoots our way in an attempt to quench the subsequent fires they begin. This, of course, is precisely what he wants. Deception, distraction and intimidation are the primary goals behind every attack he launches. It is a blueprint designed to keep us from ongoing, intimate fellowship with our Father. In my spirit I heard the Lord say,
"Your best defense is a good offense!"
When I asked what that meant, He reminded me of this analogy: When financial institutions train bank tellers how to identify counterfeit bills, they don't have them try to learn all the different kinds of false currency - they study the real one. They learn the authentic so well they can spot the counterfeit a mile away and immediately take it out of circulation. In the same way, this is how we can become effective witnesses and ambassadors for Christ. Rather than studying all the ways of the counterfeit, we can learn the genuine, investing our time, energy and attention in really knowing Jesus and our Father.
We live in an hour in which the enemy has been given "freedom of speech" (this will not always be the case as his time is marked - see Revelation 20:7-10). It doesn't mean, however, that we have to tune into him today. Those who accept the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ and are born anew into the family of God, have the wonderful privilege to choose where we will invest our attention every day. And we have the promise of the Spirit of God working powerfully within us to help us stay on track (Phil 2:13). His sheep will know His voice and will follow Him. They will not be led astray (deceived, distracted) by a strange voice. They will follow the Shepherd and be led into good pasture and life abundant (John 10:1-30).
Learning the voice and ways of our heavenly Father and His Kingdom enables us to recognize the voice and ways of the enemy and empowers us to immediately pull those out of circulation in our thoughts, speech and attitudes. In this way we take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and destroy the strongholds of the enemy (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). This begins first within ourselves and, as we change, it influences those around us (more on that in a future post). It is in the place of consistent, intimate fellowship with God that we rise up above the barrage of fiery darts from the enemy and begin to position ourselves to take out his fortress! More on positioning for strike in the next post.
“Moses said, ‘Please. Let me see your Glory.’ God said, ‘I will make
my Goodness pass right in front of you; I’ll call out the name, God, right before you.’” (Ex 33:18-19a)
Let
the whole earth be filled with His glory!
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