Believers Believing
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As most Christians agree, we believe. The question is, what is it that we believe?
What I am trying to say is that if the devil appeared to you and said: “God doesn’t really mean what He says about judgment and all that stuff about an eternal Hell. We are in a dispensation of love, so don’t worry about those overzealous preachers. There is no reason for you to be concerned.” What would be your response?
While the previous statement wouldn’t alarm many folks in the Church today, there are some who believe that it’s already happening, so to speak. Is it because we haven’t heard messages about the true power of the Gospel of Christ for some time now?
Even Christian music is centered around secular humanism, pointing to the meaning of love and grace, but not toward motivating its listeners to a state of mind that reflects the personality of Christ.
Our God of the Bible sent His Son to bring the power of His Kingdom to His body, and the whole world is still waiting for that hope today.
Matthew 16:22-23 22 But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!”
23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” Yeshua could hear satan’s strategy of trying to get The Messiah to focus on His own human need and Peter assumes that he knows our Heavenly Father’s intentions.
Hebrews 6:1-6 1 So come on, let’s leave the preschool fingerpainting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your back on “salvation by self-help” and turning in trust toward God; 2 baptismal instructions; laying on of hands; the resurrection of the dead; eternal judgment. 3 God helping us, we’ll stay true to all that. But there’s so much more. Let’s get on with it!
4 Once people have seen the light, gotten a taste of heaven and been part of the work of the Holy Spirit, 5 once they’ve personally experienced the sheer goodness of God’s Word and the powers breaking in on us— 6 if then they turn their backs on it, washing their hands of the whole thing, well, they can’t start over as if nothing happened. That’s impossible. Why they’ve re-crucified Jesus! They’ve repudiated him in public!
Repudiated, rejected, renounced, denied.
When the power of the Holy Spirit flows within us and takes up residence in our hearts, it’s the start of a new creature by the same Holy Spirit Who participated in the creation of the universe. When we turn back to our old ways and settle for a lukewarm Church, it is like telling the lost that the Gospel doesn’t work. This is the result of spiritual warfare, a battle that the Church is mostly unaware of its existence.
Just like in the synagogue of old, the duty of demons is to interfere with the teachings, relationships, and God’s sovereign authority that keep His believers.
Mark 1:21-28 21 Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum. When the Sabbath day came, he went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22 The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike the teachers of religious law.
23 Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit began shouting,24 “Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
25 Jesus cut him short. “Be quiet! Come out of the man,” he ordered. 26 At that, the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion, and then came out of him.
27 Amazement gripped the audience, and they began to discuss what had happened. “What sort of new teaching is this?” they asked excitedly. “It has such authority! Even evil spirits obey his orders!”28 The news about Jesus spread quickly throughout the entire region of Galilee.
When we preach an accommodating Gospel, we reinforce Satan’s pseudo-control over God’s greatest creation, the community of believers – those who have experienced the actual New Birth. Furthermore, when God gave us the Holy Spirit, He gave us a part of the Godhead.
Galatians 4:4-7 4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. 5 God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. 6 And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”7 Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.
We are heirs of something greater and that is much more important than money, houses, trucks, cars, and boats. The Kingdom’s authority is at hand with adoption papers signed in the Blood of the Messiah. And Satan is fighting with tooth and nails to keep us from finding out what that adoption means.
Power in Jesus Name
Look at what the Bible says in Mark 16:17:
17 These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages…
If a farm worker told a stranger to get off his property, there might be some resistance and the stranger may or may not leave. However, if the owner of the farm’s son told the stranger to get off the property, there would be a different response. More interesting is that if the child was the son of a king and he called out “Father,” the words would carry a much greater authority. Likewise, the reason the Holy Spirit came was to teach us why we call on that great Name.
When a believer says “Abba” the title is equal to saying my duty is to give Your Name devotion, respect, and affection. I want to be compliant to Your Will.
Matthew Henry’s concise commentary of the whole Bible
1 John 4:7 A man that goes about a business with ill will, always does it badly. That God dwells in us and we in him, were words too high for mortals to use, had not God put them before us. But how may it be known whether the testimony to this does proceed from the Holy Ghost? Those who are truly persuaded that they are the sons of God, cannot but call him Abba, Father. 1 John 4:7 From love to him, they hate sin, and whatever disagrees with his will, and they have a sound and hearty desire to do his will. Such testimony is the testimony of the Holy Ghost.
In Hebrew “Eloi, Eloi” or Greek “Abba, Abba”
Mark 15:34 34 The darkness lasted three hours. At three o’clock, Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
Satan knows that he cannot withstand the authority of a believing Church, so he initiates non-confrontational preaching that has little to do with exposing the kingdom of demon activity within the church. In reading the book of Mark, one will find the Messiah breaking up religious, but demonic strongholds in the synagogue. The same should be true for today’s Church. The difference is that we put good messages on top of demonic influences. Jesus instructed the believers to cast unclean spirits out of people who were held captive and in spiritual bondage. While today’s messages are primarily centered on grace, love and acceptance, the Bible message clearly illustrates the results of spiritual and earthly warfare. For the most part, encouragement is important, but we cannot ignore the fact that there are too many hurting people in the Church who need deliverance from cycles of sin, psychological issues, and physical healing. If the Church is going to preach on how much God loves us, then it should also teach about the Holy Spirit and what it really means to love God. In other words, if God loves us so much, does He not deserve our love for Him as well?
We can point out at least three examples in Scripture where Satan’s “comforting” words were strategic military operations designed to seduce God’s people into spiritual dullness.
Peter tried to comfort Jesus by saying that nothing bad will happen to Him. Listen to Jesus’ response.
Matthew 16:22-23 22 But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!”
23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
The redeemed mind will recognize Satan voice. It’s a Gospel that is sympathetic to sin, and a message that implies there is no consequence for sin. Historically we have seen that what appeared to be the ministry of big-heartedness was really a Trojan Horse designed for a sneak attack and then a season of slavery. Satan’s sweet lies are like addictive drugs that make a person feel good at first, but by the time the user is hooked, they are sick, miserable and dependent. Sadly, they are the last to know that they have a problem because their cognitive reasoning as to who they used to be has been replaced by what they have become. In the same manner, Satan’s wiles seem pleasant in the beginning, but they quickly spin out of control and become destructive behaviors which do not only destroy the individual, but the effects are felt by all those who are around that person.
1. Eve believed Lucifer because she had not been exposed to the evil inclinations behind what Satan says. He subtly sets up his victims for the end-results to be of a totally malicious nature.
Eve never engaged Lucifer with critical thinking as to why he was pursuing her or questioning her God’s intents.
2. The body of Christ must understand that warfare in the earth only mirrors the battles fought in the spirit realm. The battles fought to gain territory and lands such as in the Middle East, are also spiritual battles for the Throne of the Messiah. The battles we observe on Cable News are indicators of the skirmishes fought in heavenly places. When things seem as though the devil is busy and there is no end to his evil plans; we must remember that he is still subject to God’s sovereignty. If America and her church realized where God wants to take them, the reality of it would blow their minds.
Spirits spoke through prophets can draw leaders into wars. For instance, note the lies of Satan as he was misleading the Kings of Israel and Judah:
When King Ahab of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah planned to lead their armies against Ramoth-Gilead, they knew that they should require of God first. While Israel and Judah were known to be the people of God, victory seemed automatic. The problem was that King Ahab stole land from the prophet Naboth, then he had him killed to seize Naboth’s land. Where King Ahab thought God forgets about sins, he would soon discover that was not the case.
King Ahab of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah enquired of the prophets if their armies would be successful or not.
1 Kings 21:13 13 Then the two scoundrels came and sat down across from him. And they accused Naboth before all the people, saying, “He cursed God and the king.” So he was dragged outside the town and stoned to death.
The covers were pulled off and the culprit was exposed. This is why it is important for the Church to rebuke Satan and to not accept everything that is said or done.
1 Kings 22:16-23 16 But the king replied sharply, “How many times must I demand that you speak only the truth to me when you speak for the Lord?”
17 Then Micaiah told him, “In a vision I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘Their master has been killed. Send them home in peace.’ ”
18 “Didn’t I tell you?” the king of Israel exclaimed to Jehoshaphat. “He never prophesies anything but trouble for me.”
19 Then Micaiah continued, “Listen to what the Lord says! I saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the armies of heaven around him, on his right and on his left. 20 And the Lord said, ‘Who can entice Ahab to go into battle against Ramoth-gilead so he can be killed?’
“There were many suggestions,21 and finally a spirit approached the Lord and said, ‘I can do it!’
22 “ ‘How will you do this?’ the Lord asked.
“And the spirit replied, ‘I will go out and inspire all of Ahab’s prophets to speak lies.’
“ ‘You will succeed,’ said the Lord. ‘Go ahead and do it.’
23 “So you see, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all your prophets. For the Lord has pronounced your doom.”
Proverbs 15:33 – 16:5 tells us that humility precedes honor.
1 We can make our own plans,
but the Lord gives the right answer.
2 People may be pure in their own eyes,
but the Lord examines their motives.
3 Commit your actions to the Lord,
and your plans will succeed.
4 The Lord has made everything for his own purposes,
even the wicked for a day of disaster.
5 The Lord detests the proud;
they will surely be punished.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 9 This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. 10 He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them. 11 So God will cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies. 12 Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth.
This is a good place to expound upon the meaning of what we believe. We don’t have faith just to have faith. Our faith causes us to see God as He is and creates a wealthy vault where words come out of our mouths in gratefulness and praise to our God. Then, He demonstrates His glorious power and ability in the believers so that non-believers can see that He is the Living God Who is not able to save us, but to also keep us from falling.
Our living holy for God is required to fight against the forces of Darkness. And, as much as the world is living in conflict with one another, the Holy Spirit keeps true believers together in unity. Demons are constantly trying to separate the Body of Christ through division, broken relationships, and unrighteous living. The Holy Spirit does what is an impossible task for believers to do in the natural realm. But, if we allow the Holy Spirit to accomplish His assignment through us by producing this kind of fruit in our lives:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, there is no law against these things! (Galatians 5:22-23).
In other words, believers who believe can do all things through Christ Who strengthens us to be true Believers.