Good Afternoon Brothers in Christ,
I don’t know about you, but the greatest challenge I have as a Believer is quenching the fiery darts of Satan when he attacks my thinking, and, if I fail, not allowing myself to accept his condemnation of me. Obviously we know Satan is masterful at this because we see it throughout God’s Word beginning with his deception of Eve. The only man Satan was not able to deceive and condemn was Jesus Christ. Every other man, even men of renown, fell to Satan’s deception at points in their lives.
How does Satan attack our thinking? Satan is the father of death, iniquity, and disobedience. He is not a creator. Satan has never created anything in his entire existence, and he will never create anything. He can’t because it is not his nature. Satan’s nature is in direct contrast to God’s nature: Satan is darkness, God is light; hate-love; anger-peace; fear-faith; disobedience-obedience; sorrow-joy; impatience-patience; harshness-gentleness; evil-goodness, etc. Satan can only pervert that which God, the Creator, has created. Knowing that Satan will attack anything of God’s creation with a perversion is to know his modus-operandi. Since Satan hates God and everything of God, he hates you, your family, your business(es), your ministry, your health, etc. When you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you became public enemy number 1 to Satan and his defeated army of darkness. Satan will attack you in order to prevent God’s Word from bearing fruit in your life. He certainly doesn’t want you as a fruitful Believer.
During His earthly ministry, Jesus warned us in John 16:33 that we would have tribulation [trials], but we are to be of good cheer, because He has overcome the world. From where do the trials originate? All trials are from Satan and his army of darkness. Contrary to what many of us might have been taught, God does not send us trials. I could spend a lot of time here with this heresy taught in many churches. If God sent trials, we would have to remove James 1:13, among other verses, from the Bible. If given a choice between a man or God’s Word, I’ll choose God’s Truth every time. Pure light and pure love (I John 1 and I John 4) have no darkness and no hate in it. Our Father would have to have darkness and hate in Him to send trials to us. He does equip us, through His Word, to victoriously overcome trials.
Proverbs 23:7 tells us, “For as he [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he:…”. The battleground between good and evil is our minds. It is here where Satan sends his fiery darts, or thoughts, to bring death, decay, rottenness, bitterness, sickness, financial struggles, relationship struggles, addictions, failure, fear, doubt, anxiousness, hate, anger, etc. Brothers, please forgive me for how I say this, but I’m saying it to myself as well – WORD UP!! The world will say, “Man Up.” You can “man up” all you want, and you will ultimately fail. There is only ONE WAY to have victory, in your mind, and in your heart, over Satan – THE WORD. Look, for 55 years I tried the “man up” approach of the world and failed. Yes, I may have appeared on the surface to be a success, and I had the trappings of success in the world, but the truth is I was miserable, had fleeting bouts of happiness and joy, prayers were largely ineffective – in other words, I was a Pharisee – intellectual (knowledge of God) but not intimate (in love with God). You CANNOT know God until you fall in love with Him. Praise God, four years ago, through His continued loving pursuit of me, even though I had been saved since 13 years of age and been in church all my life, I committed to loving and knowing my Father. To put it in street language, “the world sucked, I couldn’t stand it or myself, and I knew there was more to my Father and His Word than what I was living.”
When you fall in love with God, you crave Him and His Word. He is your addiction. He is your single focus. But, Larry, I have kids, I have a business, I have a wife, I have this and that and this. With complete and utter love for you in Christ, you just told me you’re not in love with God. Now, before it is taken the wrong way, I didn’t say you weren’t saved. That is an experience unto itself. However, we are instructed in Colossians 2:6, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.” Paul is saying with the same faith you received Jesus Christ into your heart, walk in that same faith every day. You don’t need extra or some special kind of faith to walk with Christ after you’ve received Him. To “walk with Him” is to love Him, not just know of Him. Knowing him will not sustain you when life, the world, comes at you. Loving him will put you on a firm foundation from which nothing can move you.
Colossians 2:7 tells us, “Rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” How do we become “rooted and built up in Him” and “stablished in the faith?” There is ONLY ONE WAY – through THE WORD. There is just no way you will experience the victory Jesus wants you to have in this life and complete the volume of life written about you [Psalm 40:7; Hebrews 10:7]. Jesus really emphasizes this in Mark 4:16-19:
16And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the Word, immediately receive it with gladness;
17And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution [trials] ariseth for the Word’s sake, immediately they are offended.
18And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the Word,
19And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches [lust], and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the Word, and it becometh unfruitful.
There are two types of Believers spoken about in these scriptures: the one that gets excited about God’s Word and jumps out on a limb without becoming firmly established in the Word (roots are shallow), and the one that hears God’s Word but has it choked out of them by the cares and lust of the world (Lot is an example). In both cases, the Believer ends up in a carnal or powerless state due to their thinking. Remember, what we think about most will become the seeds planted in our amoral [neutral] heart. The heart is very fertile, and it will quickly grow the seed planted in it, good or bad. Matthew 12:35-37 gives us a great picture through Jesus’ Words of how this works:
35A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
36But I say unto you, that every idle [doesn’t line up with God’s Word] word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment [trials].
37For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Jesus is telling us, very plainly, that what we put into our heart, originating from our thinking, is what will come out of our mouth. And, if what comes out of our mouth doesn’t line up with God’s Word, we’ll face the consequence of our words when the trial associated with what we’ve said comes to us. Our Words will either produce life and victory in us, or they will produce death and defeat.
The question I get often is what is an example of “idle words?” Here are just a few that Satan has deviously inserted into the language of men which condemns them when said and the trial associated with the words will come to you: If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all; it’s flu season; I always catch a cold this time of year; the doctor said…..; I always come up short; I’m a day late and a dollar short; it runs in my family; I’ll just die if I have to do this; why is it always me; I don’t have two nickels to rub together; I’m just hanging on; I’m getting old; I can’t do what I used to do; my memory is going; you’ll catch your death; he won’t amount to much; etc. I know you all could add tens, if not hundreds of “idle words” to this list. Now, I’ve had people say to me, Larry, you are fanatical. God knows we don’t mean anything by these sayings. This is just being petty. My reply, in love, is God doesn’t care about our opinions or our preferences. He is true to His Word. Ask Job if words don’t matter. It is words that got Job in trouble, not God turning him over to Satan as is wrongly taught in most churches. See if you can find one place where God or Jesus created, healed, raised from the dead, cast out demons, taught without using Words.
Our Father has taught, and is teaching, me to think, act, and speak only as He does. If God didn’t or wouldn’t say it, I won’t think, act, or speak it. In Genesis 1:26, the Godhead created man in its image and likeness. This means we are exact copies of the Godhead (saved man). In Isaiah 55:8-9, He tells us we are to operate at His level of thoughts and ways (this is another wrongly taught set of verses. If you read them in the context of the two-three preceding scriptures, God is addressing the wicked man when He says My ways are not your ways, and your thoughts are not My thoughts – the wicked man – not the righteous man). In Psalm 82:6, He tells us “we are gods, and children of the Most High.” The little “g” god is an exact copy of the big “G” God with exception of the fact God, our Father, is sovereign, and we, the little “g” gods are dependent on Him for everything. When we think, act, and speak like God, we can do everything Christ did and even more (John 14:12). I can heal, cast out, bring to life, teach, foretell, enrich, bless, dominate, etc with no effort other than faith in His grace (unmerited, underserved, unearned favor).
Our thinking, our heart, and our words are everything to our success. This is why we are told to “study God’s Word.” We have to renew our minds daily and go deeper and deeper with our Father. He is calling all of us to do GREAT things for His Kingdom. Not for our honor and glory, but to bless others and our Father receives the glory. Our Father tells us in Romans 3:4:
4God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightiest be justified in thy sayings, and mightiest overcome when thou art judged [tried].
The Holy Spirit is telling us in this verse that God is true, but every man’s opinion and preferences are lies. So, speak God’s Word that you might be in “right standing” [justified] with the Words and will overcome when you encounter trials. In other words, you WILL NOT overcome, when tried, if you speak “idle words” – words that don’t line up with what God says of you. This is a “word” world. Words, good or bad, have power in the earth. Idle words have power to do harm and God’s Word has power to bring victory and life in every situation.
Proverbs 18:21
Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it [death or life] shall eat the fruit [of death or life] thereof [from what is spoken].
How much more clear can our Father make it to us? The thoughts we entertain most will become the seed planted in our hearts. The seed planted in our hearts will grow and bear fruit. The fruit will come from our tongues as we speak. What we speak will be established in us, in our families, in our businesses, in our health, in our finances, etc. So, what comes from your mouth – good or evil treasure, words of victory or words of defeat, the Word of right standing or idle words? We have a choice. It is up to NO ONE ELSE but you and me. We have free will as to what we allow in our hearts and from our tongues.
There is so, so, so much more to teach from the above; however, too much for an email. I want to encourage you that your Father loves you dearly, and He wants you to live at His very best for you. Most Believers live like river rats, feeding off the garbage of the world and not off of their Father’s authority and power laden Word. Most are Believers going to a victory, rather than coming from a victory. Christ has already won the war. And, He is in you – all of His glory, power, authority, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, and blessing. Don’t take my word for it. See what His Word says about you!
I close with this verse from Job 22:28:
Thou shalt also decree [give an order] a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light [Hebrew is “light of prosperity”] shall shine upon thy ways.
A god gives commands/orders with the undisputed intention for them to be obeyed. When we decree something, in line with God’s Word, in faith, it is done. But this is another email.
I pray Father all of these men and their families are blessed with the dew of Heaven [favor] and the fatness of the earth [prosperity and health] and have much grain [body of Christ], wine [blood of Christ], and oil [anointing] in their lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Love to all,
Larry