THE WHISPER OF SATAN
There is so much that we as believers don’t know or are not interested in knowing about. It’s the power and evil workings of Satan.
Satan is an evil spirit that uses deceptive power to deceive believers and unbelievers. Just as he did the angels that he talked into following him out of heaven and as he did with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.
This deception and power is still working in peoples lives today. Satan is good at the deception; it works for him and against us.
In this lesson I want to help prepare you how to stand victoriously against Satan and his evil methods of destruction against you and your life.
John 10:10
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly
This passage is referring to Satan and his emissaries who pave a false way of salvation. Jesus is saying I am come that they might have an abundant life. The source of this life is Christ Jesus. All true believers enjoy this abundant life by having constant faith in Jesus.
1 Peter 5:8
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
In order to stay ahead of our adversary we must stay awake, alert, watchful and mentally stable in the word of God.
Mark 4:17
17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.
They have no root in themselves, they have not rooted and grounded themselves in the word of God or developed a relationship with him, they endure for a short time means they were born again however when persecution arose for the words sake they were immediately offended and could not stand the opposition. They were not sufficiently prepared because they had not stayed in the word and developed a personal relationship with God.
Acts 26:18
18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
Here the apostle is pointing out that man is blind to the truth, enslaved by the devils’ strategies: impure, immoral, poverty stricken, and unholy. But mankind can receive sight, liberty, forgiveness, true wealth and holiness upon the principle of faith in Christ and what he did at the cross.
John 16:15
15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
Jesus is saying that all things that the father has are mine, this has always been the case, however due to the cross all these things can now be given to the believer. The foundation of all the Holy Spirit reveals to the church is what Jesus did at the cross is called the finished work.
If there is one thing that we seem to be lacking in the Christian churches today is the fear of the Lord. I am sure the angels and even the demons stand in amazement at or lack of fear and reverence for God.
19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
Of all the deceptions Satan has used down through the ages, since the garden of Eden, getting men to believe that they do not have to fear God has been his most successful and effective tool. Is this what happened to the fearful reverence of the great men of God who thundered the fear God down through the pages of scripture in both the new and Old Testament. Has Satan inserted this into mankind?
Proverbs 9:10
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
When mankind is truly willing to give up all sin, when they have no will of their own, but merge their own will entirely in the will of God, then their bonds are broken. When they yield absolutely to Gods will then they are filled with the fullness of God.
Why is mankind willing to accept anything less than the fulfillment of Jesus’ command to be perfect? Why are we so comfortable with a certain level of sin in our lives? I think the reason why is we are willing for Christ to baptize us with the Holy Spirit but we don’t want him to baptize us with fire.
Luke 3:16
16 John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:
What is this fire Paul defined for us?
Hebrews 12:28-29
28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29 For our God is a consuming fire.
This fire consumes anything that is not acceptable to God. God is a consuming fire. His fire consumes sin. When Jesus was here on earth everywhere he went he was hated, because his very presence convicted people of their sin. When he was here, they had a great opportunity to love and welcome Him. He came for them to be forgiven of their sins and to be able to have fellowship with the Father.
The same is true today, the ones who need the consuming fire of God don’t reach out for it. This baptism of fire is just evidence in our lives as is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:3-4
3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
All the people present were filled with fire, not just the apostles. When they were filled with fire, which portrayed the coming of the Holy Spirit in a new dimension the Holy Spirit could now come into their hearts and lives to abide permanently.
As the Holy Spirit comes in with a rebirth of our spirit and we accept Jesus as our Lord and savior our spiritual body is re-born so it can commune with and worship the Lord as Adam did before the fall.
It is thru our spirit that we can commune with God, with the help of the Holy Spirit as demonstrated in the following verse.
John 4:23-24
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Only our spirit can commune with the spirit world, in this case worshiping God the Father who is a spirit.
Satan’s goal is to encourage humans to reject this and have them seek conscious control of their spiritual bodies so they can perceive the spirit world as well as the physical world. This is not what God wants for His people.
There is a special class of demons who frequently refer to themselves as “power demons” who help to establish the link between the soul and the spirit body, they are helping the person to gain conscious control of their spirit.
Ephesians 6:10-12
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Our enemies are not human beings; however, Satan constantly uses humans to carry out his dirty work. The principalities and the rulers of the darkness of this world is referring to those who carry out the instructions of the Devil. These are the demons who do the whispering of evil thoughts.
We are not in a physical war; we are in a spiritual war for our souls. We have nothing to worry about. Our Lord is stronger than these evil spirits. Stay close to the Lord and he will stay close to you.
We all need to learn about how to use our spiritual armor. I found that Pastor Bobbie Erben who you can reach at www.sandcastleministry.org has broken down how each peace of the armor is important to our daily battle with Satan.
Stay in the word,
Brother Andy
