True Christians are the disciples of Jesus, the Word of God.
True Christians are the disciples of Jesus, the Word of God.
The King James Bible, Ezekial 28:19 and 2 Timothy 1:7.
It is very important to understand what the enemy (the devil) is and know it can only try to give us that which it has/is because it has NO additional powers beyond its identity. God made sure of that.
From heaven's perspective, before the devil became the enemy, the devil was a cherub named Lucifer in the realm of the Spirit. Lucifer challenged God's almighty status and supremacy. No, God was not surprised. In response, the evil cherub was sentenced to exist in a state of eternal torment and destruction. The Father bound it to a single state of existence (fear) and cast it out of heaven along with the others who followed Lucifer.
The enemy knows it will be destroyed in torment forever, and it definitely fears destruction by the wrath of God mightily. The devil will always exist in fear of the impending torment from God's imminent wrath. In fact, the devil is synonymous with hell as part of the pit itself.
When we know what the devil is, we see its limitations and know it is powerless over anyone born again by the Spirit of God. We make ourselves vulnerable when we think or understand otherwise. The unsaved, however, are taken captive at the enemy's will by its snare.
(A snare captures a body by holding it with a cord using a slip knot. A snare is not a net. The snare of the enemy catches us by the "thorn in the flesh", our will of the flesh.)
For reproof, read the following verses. You may choose to read the bold only for a faster grasp, but hold onto your seat.
Yes. God said the devil would be nothing more than a terror.
Webster's 1828 dictionary defines "terror" as:
We know God is not evil and He does not tempt.
Thus, God did not create the enemy to terrorize mankind or give us a spirit of fear.
When the Father cast the enemy out of heaven, He said it would be a terror per se (in itself) and bound the evil angel (a spirit) in an eternal state of terror/fear.
God made Lucifer the spirit of fear per se (in itself), and it will remain so forever, even in hell in the end.
The spirit of fear is also called the "spirit of error" to include the many minions of the devil. Those minions ("serpents and scorpions") are all the ways the devil uses to meet the demand for mankind's fears that God is insufficient for him in some way.
One can say the devil is the spirit of fear and the spirit of error because God is sufficient in every way.
2 Timothy 1:7.
We have all been wayward at some time, but God's will is that nobody is lost. He desires a church comprised of fearless children because He is their Father. The fearful become the enemy's children. They will lose their soul and suffer the wrath of God because He is just.
Fear of God as almighty is reverence toward God because He is God. The born again (saved) know Him as their Father. Any fear other than a righteous fear of God comprises the enemy's spirit of fear that God is insufficient because the Spirit of God is perfect love and all-sufficient.
Our will of man governs the disposition of our soul by choosing eternal life according to the will of God (the Spirit) or eternal death according to the will of our flesh that dies when our body dies. The enemy works through our will of the flesh; it is literally the enemy's "outside-in" inroad into man.
The enemy's spirit of fear (also called the spirit of error) manifests in man through the will of the flesh in literally any way he lets it. Whenever someone thinks God is insufficient for them, the will of their flesh has opened the door for the enemy to come in. This happens when someone leaves the Word and/or abandons the truth of it. Interlineated for clarity with text in [brackets].:
Fear is the only tactic of the enemy, the god of sin and death, because fear is the only spirit it has/is. The enemy was constrained by God the Father to inhabit only that state of existence.
The enemy, the spirit of fear that God is insufficient or not almighty, gains access into us through our mind first when we doubt God is almighty and all-sufficient. Of course, those thoughts are lies. The enemy is a liar and the father of lies.
A fear God is insufficient is the pathway to hell. Recall that the devil became the devil because of it.
Anyone who falls victim to the enemy's spirit of fear is blinded and is, by definition, fearful that God is in some way not powerful enough, not loving enough, not sound in mind, not good enough, not fun enough, not strong enough, not satisfying enough, etc., and not the best choice. If they didn't have a bogus fear that God is inadequate, they would choose the ways of God over the enemy in an instant.
The enemy is powerless over the born again, the elect, who live by the Spirit! However, even the very elect may be deceived by false prophets and false Christs if they do not know the truth.
God said the pure Word is the way we resist all evil including false prophets and false Christs.
Yes. God in heaven does not do evil. All evil is based on a sentiment that God is not almighty, sovereign, all-sufficient, etc., as explained in detail below. The enemy is the god of this world. The god of this world is the devil. The devil is the evil spirit that roams the earth. Beware:
Thus, despite what some people choose to believe, God the Father in Heaven is not the “god of this world.”
From God's perspective as the almighty sovereign, evil is a belief that He (God or His will) are in some way insufficient for us. For example, rejecting Jesus or the Word of God is a rejection of God the Father. Rejecting God makes you His adversary because you side with the god of this world as a friend of it.
The enemy, the devil, knows God will destroy it and all who rise up against Him thinking in their heart that God is insufficient in some way, for they are His enemy who shall receive His wrath. The target of the enemy is mankind but the enemy has no power against God (or the born again).
God calls the devil a thief, among other things.
The devil seeks to devour everyone.
Please note: God is your loving Father if you want Him to be, or He is your adversary if you reject Him. It's up to you. Choose to become born again (saved) and a child of the almighty God.
The King James Bible, 2 Corinthians 4:4 and James 4:4.
If we read how the enemy, the devil, came into being and understand God stripped it of all power and bound it to an existence of terror in itself, we find its true state. Creepy images, Follywood, etc., portray the devil as mighty. In reality, it is mighty weak and literally bound (trapped) in fear.
We were made in the image and likeness of God, and we have the power to become sons of God. The devil is the enemy of God and the enemy of the Father's children, starting with the Jews and Jesus.
The devil knows the pathway to destruction is challenging God's sufficiency. The Word of God is God, and the Word promises salvation for the believer according to the Father's will. The devil challenges the Word of God that promises salvation for the believer, and the enemy tempts humans to do the same.
Remember, the devil is fear per se (in itself), but the children of the Father are born again by the Holy Spirit of power (the Holy Ghost), love (the Father), and a sound mind (the Word-the mind of Christ).
Temptation to sin and nothing more. People sin because they want to. Stated another way, they sin because they prefer the will of the flesh and are fearful the ways (will) of God are insufficient to please them. In truth, the ways (will) of God is all important and all-sufficient!
The enemy, the devil, uses anyone and/or anything it can to tempt your flesh to fear God's ways (His will) is not the best for you, thereby causing you to separate yourself from complete faith in the sufficiency of God and/or His ways. The devil's approach is only through the flesh (body and mind) because the Spirit gives life.
Anyone who is not born again of the Spirit is easily manipulated by the devil.
Recall that the enemy (the devil) can only give that which it has as the god of this world. It is the spirit of fear (error). The devil uses itself, the spirit of error, to suggest the Father, His Word, and/or His Spirit of truth (the Holy Ghost) is not almighty and sovereign. The enemy tempts people to believe the same way based on a fear a lifestyle guided by the will of God will be unfulfilling. Our flesh is the target. Our will of the flesh is the inroad.
Mankind is corruptible by nature because he is of the flesh and naturally desires the pleasures of his body, which he knows very well. Whereas faith is required to prefer the ways (will) of God because faith overcomes a personal fear that God's ways are not as desirable as the ways of this world and the flesh.
An unbeliever of the Word (God) or the sufficiency of the Father's ways (will), shall look to the world for satisfaction. In doing so, they rely on the sufficiency of their flesh to decide what is good and befriend the world to get "it". As a friend of the world they become an enemy from God and shall be destroyed.
The New Testament of the King James Bible.
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.
Luke 10:19-20.
The enemy has no actual power over the born-again, because we do not live in fear of death or anything short of it. Our flesh may experience "dread" because sin dwells in the flesh and dreads its eventual demise, but we do not fear because we are born of the Spirit and live forever. The enemy uses dread in our flesh to lead (tempt) us into fear, receiving him because the enemy is the spirit of fear.
The children of God live courageously by the Word, the Spirit of Truth, in pursuit of the will of the Father, having faith in Him. The enemy is a tempter who tries to get people to think God, His Word, the truth of the scriptures, or His ways are inadequate or insufficient. The enemy tempts our flesh with dread and lets us take on fear whenever we choose to think God is not sufficient to protect us. It tries that with everyone. Think of it this way, those who are dreadful become fearful.
Jesus is a son of God. He has/had the power over all the power of the enemy. When we become born again, we become sons of God through Jesus-the Word, and have the power He has by living in Him, the Word
Therefore, the power to become a son of God IS the way to receive the "power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy," and Jesus gave it to us if we believe Him.
The source is the Spirit of God.
The born again (the saved when our bodies die) are members of the true Royal Family of the Father in the Spirit. We know the Father as our father-Father, as a son in the Spirit, and Jesus as our Brother. We have the authority of the family, the true Royal Family to do our Father's will here on earth in Jesus's stead!
Yes! The Bible says we live "in Him" and get what he has/had. When you became born again of the Spirit, you became a child of God in the Spirit. As a child of God, you are a new creation and have the power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing by any means shall hurt you.
Remember, the will of our Father is knowing we are His children, the born again of His Spirit. His Spirit most assuredly has THE power over all the power of the enemy. Of course, if you don't believe it, then the enemy has again deceived you into thinking the ways of the Father are insufficient for you. Don't be duped.
As the born again, you and I do the will of the Father here, and we glorify Jesus whenever we do. Of course, we rejoice in the fact our name is written in the Book of Life and that we live forever and praise Jesus for it. Thus, how "bad" can a "bad day" ever be for us who live forever in heaven when our body dies?
Saved.Church
Albany, Oregon
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