Tag Archives: 2 Corinthians

His Disciple: An Enemy We Cannot Ignore

“Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.” – Luke 4:1-2

He exists, and he is evil, and there is great danger in pretending otherwise. Don’t listen to whatever or whoever tells you that he isn’t real, or that he isn’t a threat. 

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. – Ephesians 6:12

The battle is not against people, but we have certainly made it so, haven’t we? We are prone to leaning toward what we can see and touch rather than what lives in the places we cannot see. Hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. It’s easier to make it about one another. Spouses, parents, siblings, neighbors, politicians… they all become who we wrestle, who we see as the enemy. But God’s word could not be more clear. Flesh and blood is not in the ring with us, so we’d better learn to fight what is in the ring.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. – 1Peter 5:8

When we are unaware, we are easy prey. There is no other way to take this scripture. Again, we have an adversary that is not of flesh and blood, and he is not just out to make life hard for us, he seeks our destruction. He wants to destroy our relationships—with people and with God—and he wants to destroy our faith. To render us hopeless, trusting only ourselves and our own wisdom and strength.

We must wake up and sober up so that we are not devoured.

For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. – 2Corinthians 11:13-14

There have always been false teachers plaguing the Church. Wolves dressed like not only sheep, but like shepherds! I cannot think of a better advertisement for knowing the Word of God. Wolves don’t come in just to pick off the weak sheep. They come in to lead the entire flock astray, if possible. To sow lies, twist the Word, and in so doing convince the people of God to create a god in their own image. The wolves are real and scripture admonishes the Church to recognize them and deal with them, not ignore them.

Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices. – 2Corinthians 2:10-11

Don’t miss it – unforgiveness is a device used by Satan. Our inability, or unwillingness to forgive turns us bitter, not loving. It keeps us in pride, rather than humility. It imitates man, not God, and it destroys unity.

There is a reason that Peter asked Jesus how many times we have to forgive our brother. In our humanity, we have a sense of justice that differs from that of Jesus. We also have pride that keeps us looking for a way out of forgiving someone, rather than a way into it. That pride is stoked in the fires of hell, not the justice of heaven.

The bible is not shy about the theology of the devil, but there are many people “masquerading” as sheep who are attempting to remove that theology, including the truth about hell. Leading many astray into thinking that there will be no judgement, and no punishment for those who chose to reject Christ and salvation. If you remove the judgement, you remove any need for salvation. Any need to bend our knee to Jesus, and it is unto our destruction, which is the very goal of the enemy that so many are ignoring or, worse, believing does not exist.

If we are a disciple of Jesus, then His enemy is our enemy. And we are his.

Father, open our eyes to the truth! Not so that we can run scared but so that we can turn and fight. So that Your Church will stop attacking one another and begin to fight back against the roaring lion seeking to devour. Help us learn how to use Your Word as a sword, how to protect ourselves with Your armor, and how to see our brothers and sisters as allies in battle for one another, not against one another.

Thanks for reading. See you next time!

Marriage Matters—What Are You Thinking?

A woman kissed her husband as he left for work, and then went about her day. As she did, her thoughts began to wander, and before she knew it she was thinking about something hurtful he had done last week. She replayed the incident in her mind throughout the day, and by the time her husband came home from work, her mood was very different than when he left that morning.  She was irritable, and eventually, it turned to anger. And neither of them understood what had happened.

Sound familiar? It does to me. For years I allowed my thought life to run the show, and not only did it make me miserable, it brought misery to my marriage.

 “You cannot have a positive life and a negative mind.” –  Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind

We cannot spend our day thinking negative thoughts about our spouse without it affecting how we treat them. Allowing our mind to dwell on all the reasons they are unlovable will not result in actions that display unconditional love. Our thoughts can lead us to be for our spouse, or against them. Much is won or lost in the place of our thought life.

Part of my problem all those years was that I was often unaware of my own thought life, unaware really, that my thoughts mattered all that much. And like many people, I was ignorant of the fact that my thoughts were something I could actually have control over.

But our thoughts do matter, and we can control them.

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God,

and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2Corinthians 10:5

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure,

whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

 We have the ability to take control of our thoughts, or God would not have instructed us to do so. It takes awareness. It takes practice. It takes effort. It takes making a choice.

Today, choose to think about whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–whatever is excellent or praiseworthy about your spouse. Take every other thought captive.

Your thoughts matter. Think the ones worth thinking.