"Satan comes along when we are truly devoted to God and brings a tormentor, or an accuser, or someone who maligns us and tears us down, like Job's friends, and then he sits back and waits for the magic to happen. Will you begin to defend yourself? Splendid! Will you feel you must explain and demonstrate that you are a good person, or have some talent so you will be wanted? He squeals with demonic delight at such a thing, or will you hang on that cross with Jesus and commit yourself to God?"
I was reading in Matthew the other morning where Jesus was being crucified, and I was struck by how he was horribly tempted, even as he was hanging on the cross, perhaps more than at any other time. The soldiers mocked him saying, essentially, if you are truly the son of God, why don't you save yourself? The criminal on the cross joined in as well, saying if you can truly save others, how about saving us right now Jesus? If you are really the Messiah and Savior, show us. Prove it, because we don't think so.
This is so stunning. He came to save them, and they killed him saying that he was a demon possessed blasphemer. This floors me, but not as much as it should. Our God came down from heaven, left his heavenly home, the Living Word, put on a physical death-suit human body that was fallen and corrupt, came to his own, and his own people rejected, hated, falsely accused, and executed him on a wooden cross - the most shameful thing that could happen to anyone.
Selah. I mean, SELAH! I pray to see this with my heart eyes. I long to know the truth of My God, and the depths of His unthinkable, incomprehensible love! I do, I truly do, as I am sure that you do as well, for in seeing him with eyes of the heart, not the mind only, we are made new. We are made like Him, and only the Holy Spirit can open the eyes of the heart in response to whole-hearted seeking. When I can see the truth of who God is, all others loves quite naturally fade away; I will hate and disdain them like a dirty, smelly rag. When I see who God really is, my heart will long only and ever for Him, and I will give anything and everything, even all that I have, just to be with Him so great and awesome is He! This love, oh this love! Many waters cannot quench this love. Every idol will fall before the glorious light of God's love.
Is this not what happens with our "first love?" We cry out to God and He comes and reveals Himself to us and we are undone. We are on fire with a revelation of His goodness, and people tell us to sit down, shut up, stop being so radical, but we simply must tell the world about this One who is so, so good. And then life happens. Hurts happen. Things get better as God removes the dirt and filth and chains and at first, we are so overjoyed and praises flow like mighty torrents, but over time there are bills to pay, and conflicts with friends, coworkers, and family, and struggles and stress and the world calls to us from every direction. Make more money, take better vacations, or maybe taste this or try that good thing, or accomplish this or that, and it's the lust of the eyes, the flesh, and the pride of life and our hearts are under siege every single day. The affections of the heart are under siege from the moment that we see Him because it is the light of the knowledge of God that makes us very, very dangerous to the kingdom of this present world.
The knowledge of God is the only thing that Satan wants to destroy, for from it flows all things-everything. Above all, guard your heart, for from it flow the issues of life. The heart is for one thing, and one thing alone, to know God, and God is love.
Satan comes to blind us to the knowledge of God. He comes to put up a heavy, thick veil so that I cannot see Him, hear Him, or even, remember Him. There are many ways that Satan does this, one of which is to cause us to think about ourselves-to defend, explain and/or promote ourselves. The minute that I believe that I need you to know or see something about me, my heart gets a little harder, and I am blinded to God for we cannot have two masters. It's God, or self but never God and self. I cannot seek God wholeheartedly as well as your approval, it's one or the other but never both. (If this makes you feel hopeless, read to the end. There is hope!)
Jesus was being tempted, I believe, to defend himself just as he was in the wilderness when Satan said "If you are the Son of God"...prove it. Show the world and fling yourself off this mountain so that the angels can catch you. Jesus could have easily rationalized this: if they see the angels catch me then they will believe and isn't that what you want God? Think of Jesus's human side that had to exist in order for him to be able to overcome it, and then to grant to us that same overcoming nature. The fallen, human side does not want to be misunderstood. Self demands understanding and simply hates being thought of in a negative light, yes, even fears it because self craves and idolizes the approval and acceptance of man. And that is how we become blind to God, for we cannot serve to masters. You cannot serve God and man's praise, and Satan knows it, and that is why he will bring accusers, haters, or those who simply cannot "see" who you are into your life to tempt you.
Tozier explains this really well. Jesus confronted the pharisees with their unbelief by pointing out how it's impossible for them to have any real faith, as they claimed, because they seek praise from one another. Drop the mike. It's this seeking of man's praise that deadens the heart to faith, and it is the source of our unbelief, according to Tozier. If I seek God, wholeheartedly and without mixture, God shows himself to me. He reveals himself to those who seek Him with the whole heart without mixture. This is what he was saying when he taught us to ask, seek, and knock; it's only ardent, focused, whole mind and heart seeking that God answers.
The lack of power and reality of God in most of our churches (despite talk of it) isn't because we need another method other than "only believe" on Christ, it is because there are so few who seek God in this way-even as we pray, fast, read, teach, preach, listen to teachings and go our religious, merry way. (Sidetrack Here: Then, Satan comes along through a teacher selling a book or program and says, here is what the church is missing. You have to find the exact sin that your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather committed and discover the exact demons before Christ's power can work. Or you have to quote this prayer in this manner and stand on your head and, and, and you get the point. While it's tempting to say that they don't mean it that way, I have heard many of these teachers say or at least imply that the gospel isn't working, meaning faith in Christ isn't enough because there is another revelation needed-and you can find it in their book. They point to great men and women of God who were never healed or had some issue because they didn't do their method but the Bible says when real faith is present, the evidence will always, always follow. So we would rather protect their spiritual pride then just say what the word says. "Faith is the evidence." No faith, no evidence. Faith...evidence! But I digress....)
If we have any regard for man thinking that man must accept, approve, or accommodate us (i.e., grant me access to what I want to do etc.), then we will find man, and not God, though we are praising, praying, and living lives "devoted" to God; the heart is doing something else when we have this mixture.
Satan comes along when we are truly devoted to God and brings a tormentor, or an accuser, or someone who maligns us and tears us down, kind of like Job's friends, and then he sits backs and waits for the magic to happen. Will you begin to defend yourself? Splendid! Will you feel you must explain and demonstrate that you are a good person, or have some talent so that they will not reject you. He squeals with demonic delight at such a thing, or will you hang on that cross with Jesus and submit yourself to God.
The enemy wants to make us believe that we need to defend and explain ourselves to defile the soil of our hearts. When we take the bait, our hearts become stony and thorny and the precious word is choked, and our vision of God fades just a little bit, and faith wanes as our eyes cloud over with self-love and fear of man. How do I know all of this? Well, I have lived it of course, and I will tell you that nothing, nothing is worth knowing Him.
So what do you do if you can see that you too have fallen into this sin, or maybe it's even a bondage in your life that began in childhood? We have a promise, and we have a Savior. Just confess it to Him, and He will give you a new heart. Every time that He shows it to you, just confess it until you are totally free, for we have these great and precious promises by which we become partakers of the divine nature (and you don't even have to find your great(X10) grandfather's sin or talk about demon names! Only believe. The gospel is so simple that you have to be like a child to get it. Jesus said, Only Believe.
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