VB116 The Matador
The Matador
[Mk 4:8,15,20]
In the Victory Briefing, VB115 The War Room, I made the comment that, “We need to think on, meditate very carefully, and study the manual God has provided. The church must know the enemy. We blame demons for the actions of our own flesh, and we don’t recognize demonic manifestation when we see it at work. As long as we are confused about the Word of God, the enemy doesn’t care where the blame falls.”
Drunkenness and addiction are very powerful forces. They are works of the flesh according to our warfare manual (Galatians 5). Blame it on hereditary traits, illness, or a demon, and you will be wrong! Lustful flesh is what it is! It would really be stupid for the enemy to designate a demon for what is already produced by human flesh. Drunkenness is a product of undisciplined thoughts, selfishness, and other weaknesses leading to the sin.
The church, and the world’s healthcare industry have renamed many things to help us be confused about our warfare manual. It is a part of how they stay in business. When we learn the Word of God and apply it, we can be saved, healed, and delivered!
I think it is fair to give you another illustration of being confused about the Word of God. Since the weapons of our enemy can only be defeated by the use of God’s Word, I figure it is very important that we really know God’s Word.
The devil knows your weaknesses. He’s got demons in his war library right now, studying on how to reinforce your stubborn attitude! The enemy is always preparing his next strike. He is aware of the power of God in you, and he knows his only chance is to distract you from what the Bible really says. We must unravel the tactics of the devil!
I feel so sorry for people who don’t read and study God’s Word. They think going to church now and then is all they need. The enemy has them totally distracted. They don’t know where they left their sword, and they have no armor.
The enemy knows he is no match for a Word-speaking child of the Most High God. The tactics used by satan to deceive Christians are merely smoke screens that he can hide behind.
Like a bull fight, if the 2,000 pound bull ever found out the red cape was not his problem, that his real enemy was the skinny matador hiding behind the cape, the battle would be over in a moment. Yet, as long as the bull is deceived into fighting the cape, he will continue until he is exhausted and eventually destroyed by a harmless opponent. With little understanding of satan’s strategies, the church is like the bull, and there is absolutely nothing the devil enjoys more than to keep us busy fighting the red cape. We need to take a look at the parable of the sower and Mark 4:8, and verse 20.
Mk 4:8,20 (KJV) –And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. …And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it….
The devil is after one thing, and one thing only – the Word of God in the child of God. It is not you that he is afraid of, rather, he is frightened of the Word of God in you! He is scared because it is authority, knowledge and power in your life. The devil is deathly afraid of the revelation by which you and I walk.
He is so fearful, that he will attempt to remove the Word at any cost. He also knows that the longer the Word of God remains on the inside of us the greater chance there is of it taking root. He is aware of the threat of exposing his deceptive power in our lives. He knows that if we ever get into an operating knowledge of the Word of God, that a two-edged sword will slice him to pieces!
Because satan has an understanding of spiritual principle of the manipulation of the Word of God, he cannot afford to take this risk. The principle is this, God’s Word sown in the hearts of his children who hear and receive, has the power to produce fruit at thirty, sixty, and hundred-fold. Mountains are moved, the lame walk, when this fruit is produced. When God’s Word is received into good ground many are brought into the kingdom of God. If at all possible, satan must steal the word before it can produce power in our lives. The Word is life-giving to the child of God and life-threatening to Satan’s plan for this world.
I believe we become a threat to satan’s plan to the degree that the Word is working on the inside of us. Notice that persecution is related to the gospel (cf. Mt 5:10-12; 1Pet 2:11-12,21; 3:14-17; 4:12-16). God’s Son, God’s Word, and God’s people are targets in a fallen world.
The matador is so clever as he hides behind his red cape. He studies our responses and circumstance. When, for instance, persecution and affliction arise for the Word’s sake, we blame them on everything and everyone else. We blame our job. We blame our lack of finances. But what we fail to do is recognize and blame the one who is hiding behind the red cape – satan.
Persecution comes for one reason – to immediately remove the Word of God from us before it can take root in our spirits and produce results for the kingdom of God. It is the Word of God that rips the cape off the skinny matador, and exposes evil tactics and gives us thirty, sixty, and hundred-fold returns in our lives, and in the kingdom of God.
When does satan come to steal the Word of God?
Mk 4:15 (KJV) –And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
Satan comes immediately! Immediately means before the service is even over, before we turn another page, satan is using one more of his tactics to remove the Word. The battle is on from the first moment that God’s Word is spoken.
In these days of temptation that we live in, it is crucial to understand the nature of this all-out war that Satan has launched against the church.
In upcoming messages we will look at satan’s tactics, and in doing so we will come a step closer to our objective which is to render the devil powerless in our lives.
God bless you my friend,