Avoiding Satan’s Will for the Church

December 28, 2011

Now that we’ve established what to build and we’ve identified the building materials, how do we avoid becoming vulnerable to the tactics of Satan to rob, steal and/or kill the building process and those participating?

Before we get started, I would like to recommend a short prayer to you. We should always confess our need for God to give us wisdom, understanding, knowledge and revelation in knowing the Lord Jesus Christ better through the leading of the Holy Spirit.

God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, you are awesome in all of your ways. Please give me the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowing the Lord Jesus Christ more and more as I read this article.

Part 1 of this Series – What is the Fear of the Lord? – Part 1
Part 2 of this Series – What is the Fear of the Lord? – Part 2
Part 3 of this Series – Walking in the Fear of the Lord – Part 1
Part 4 of this Series – Walking in the Fear of the Lord – Part 2
Part 5 of this Series – Build According to the Pattern
Part 6 of this Series – Avoiding Satan’s Will for the Church
Part 7 of this Series – Revival

What is Satan’s Will for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Please be aware that I would never write an article that gives more attention to Satan than it does to the provision of God to resist him. So please know that the thoroughness with which I’m writing about the enemy of the Cross of Christ and His body is designed to uncover His tactics. The end of this article reveals the provision God has already made available so that we are not subject to Satan’s will. The only thing that needs to be settled is whether we choose to apply it to our own lives.

What is Satan’s Will?

He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Mark 8:32-33 (NIV)

Before we dive into this extremely important and revelation packed passage of scripture between our Lord Jesus Christ, Peter and Satan, take a moment and consider this truth. There are ONLY two ultimate powers or wills in the earth realm. The Spiritual Warfare that is real to many believers is the direct result of the conflict of these two opposing wills. There’s the will of God, as revealed in the Word of God and the life, death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and then there’s the will of Satan, embodied in the coarse of the world system. Just consider it for a moment, everything that does not honor God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, does honor Satan. The latter is clearly demonstrated in one simple statement, “if it feels right, do it”. I have read the nine doctrinal statements found in the satanic bible (I DO NOT recommend anyone spend time dabbling in this book), written buy Anton LeVay, and each one of them exalts the will and desire of mankind above those revealed to us in the Holy Word of God. As you study the Word of God, you will find a consistent theme throughout. God tirelessly encourages mankind to follow His will for them, which leads to life and that more abundantly. In contrast, you will also see the forces of darkness tirelessly working in the heavenlies and through yielded men and women to tempt them to follow their lower natures apart from God. Now let’s dig into this passage of scripture. The context is Jesus explaining to His disciples the will of God for Him to go to the cross and enduring horrific suffering. Now, to the natural mind, which is exactly what Satan wants us to lean to, it is absolute crazy talk for Jesus, the Messiah, to be talking about suffering and dying, no less. Satan understands that when we lean to our natural minds, we can never know the things of God, because the scripture and God prohibits the natural mind from penetrating the things of the spirit realm. This is the same principal that got Adam and Eve kicked out of the garden of God. As we read on, we see a powerful truth about the wiles of our enemy, Satan. Even with those within Jesus’ inner circle, Satan was able to inspire and suggests a natural, fleshly, man centered desire to Peter, which Peter then gave birth to by speaking it. We do know that life and death are in the power of our tongues. This simply means we posses the power to birth life or death by the words that we speak. Even though Peter allowed Satan to cause him to give birth to something contrary to the will of God, Jesus was on the alert. He rebuked Peter, then went on to the source of Peter’s suggestion, Satan himself. This contains a powerful lesson for each and everyone of us. Be sure you’re targeting the right enemy, when you use your words. Even if a person is being used to entice you to follow the will of man, deal with the Satanic spiritual force behind the person, while at the same time, with the love of Christ, correcting and nullifying the man centered words of the person. Satan’s ultimate desire for every man or woman is for them to exalt their own desires above the will of God; and he doesn’t care by what means he gets you and I to agree to this satanic will.

Tactics/Wiles of Satan

Ignoring Wisdom and Leaning to Our Own Understanding

Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out, in the gateways of the city she makes her speech: “How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you. But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you– when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you. “Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me. Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord, since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.” Prov 1:20-33 (NIV)

I ask you to take a moment and really consider this passage of scripture. It truly frightens me to even consider the possibility of God looking the other way when calamity strikes us and our homes simply because we hated knowledge and did not choose the Fear of the Lord.

Steal Our Strength Which Leads to Self Love and Pride (Pride of Life)

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matt 22:36-40 (NIV) But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God– having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth 2 Timothy 3:1-7 (NIV)

The second and equally formidable tactic of Satan, against the Body of Christ, is Self Love which always opens the door to PRIDE. These two ultimately result in us thinking more highly of ourselves than we should (see Romans 12:3). The reason I pitted the words of Jesus against the will of Satan is because Satan’s pattern has always been and continues to be tempting mankind to do the exact opposite of God’s Word. The Strongman of self love, pride, is the very sequence of events that got Satan evicted from the third heaven (see Isaiah 14:13-23 and Ezekiel 28:11-19). In addition, Satan knows full well, because he’s had a very long time to study mankind, that if he can direct our focus from God to ourselves, pride is inevitable and self love flourishes when the strongman of Pride rules a demonic home in Christians. Let’s compare the three levels of love found on both sides. On the one hand, Jesus says love God, then love others and finally as you love yourself. The ranking and order of precedence to which our love is to be directed is clear; first God, second people and finally ourselves (see Philippians 2:3). Also, please notice that Jesus makes it plain that every word written in the law and every prophetic word uttered depends on these two commandments. I invite you to ponder this for a moment. This is such a powerful and heavy statement, I cannot flush it out here, or I’ll lose my focus on the topic at hand. In contrast, as the direct result of becoming a victim of terrible or perilous times, this individual loves himself or herself first, then they love their money and finally they love pleasure, instead of loving God. Believe me when I say that the enemy is fine with this happening gradually as opposed to an immediate reversal away from God. In order for us to truly expose the tactic of the enemy and fully understand how this can happen to someone who has given their life to the Lord Jesus Christ, we must dig a little deeper than what appears on the surface. Let’s take a look at the original Greek meaning of the word perilous, which appears in the KJV version of the scripture. The English transliteration of the original Greek word is chalepos (G5467), which literally means to strip an opponent of their strength, to lower or make void their defense system or create a gulf between the opponent and their defense system through repeated and sustained difficult, dangerous, fierce and furious attacks. The goal, which isn’t a surprise, is to render the child of God weak so they’re not able to defend themselves, incapable of launching on offensive attack or holding a defensive position. Let’s consider some truths about Satan’s limited ability to attack members of the Body of Christ. First, he can only do to us what God allows or is legally permitted by the Word of God. Second, he can in no way kill us prior to our appointed time of death. Finally, since he knows this, his attack of choice is to create such turmoil in the atmosphere around believers, that they will violate God’s Word provoking God, who hastens to His word to perform it, to become the disciplinarian. Remember, Satan is the prince of the power of the air, and the Apostle John informed us that the entire world is under his influence. Just consider it for a moment, with the world system under Satan’s thumb, it’s not very difficult for him to setup agitating, frustrating, downright evil and unnecessary situations specifically designed to weaken our defenses, rob us of our strength ultimately causing distance between us and our relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our defense. Finally, just in case you think this is definitely happening to those tares (those sent by the enemy to infiltrate the church), please notice that Paul says these people have a form of Godliness, but are not being impacted by the very power of God that can transform their lives. The people Paul is describing are sitting right next to you and I in the local church. They hear the Word of God being preached, but never seem to be able to arrive at the Knowledge of the Truth. This is a direct result of not walking in the Fear of the Lord. The next tactic Satan uses against the church will reveal the ultimate impact of this reality.

Vexation and Frustration by Witnessing Filthy Lifestyles

In a previous article I asked the question, “if faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, then what comes by watching or listening to programs that don’t honor God”? This section will answer that question. First I would like to make a distinction between the true Body of Christ and those who are simply hanging around the true Body of Christ for their own personal gain. Continually witnessing the filthy life styles of people who have been sent by Satan, does have an effect on true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. If this seems like a strange concept, let’s dive into the scripture and see what Jesus and others have to say on the subject.

Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear Matt 13:36-43 (NIV) and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard) 2 Peter 2:7-8 (NIV) Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved Matt 24:12-13 (NIV)

I won’t linger on this point for long, however, I would like to draw your attention to the words of Peter and the Lord Jesus with regard to how believers are negatively impacted by their surroundings. Please notice, Peter informs us that Lot was not distressed because of his own bad decisions or life style choices, he was distressed, agitated and frustrated simply by seeing and hearing the lawless deeds of others. I ask you, does that include watching this type of behavior on television and in the cinema? I’ll let you answer the question. Now please notice the words of our Lord, because of the volume or saturation of wicked behavior, the love of many will wax cold. WAIT A MINUTE! If the love of many waxes cold due to an atmosphere saturated with wicked behavior, how in the world are we going to obey the most two important commandments on which all the law and the prophets hang?

Being Discontent (Lust of the Flesh and Lust of the Eyes)

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it Gen 3:6 (NIV) covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded 2 Tim 3:2-4 (KJV)

The last tactic of the enemy I will mention in this article in discontentment. Take a moment and take a look at just a few of the works of the flesh that are a direct result of our love being focused on the wrong things. As I was writing one of the previous articles, I watched a news cast that was playing a clip of shoppers charging into a store on black Friday, and most of them were oblivious to the fact that they were trampling a young girl. I have the latest corporate Diversity magazine sitting on my computer desk. I brought it home, instead of chucking it like I normally do, because I want to show the spiritual and business leaders of the ministry I attend, how the ENTIRE corporate Diversity push is 100% rooted in the LGBT agenda, with the goal of resurrecting the days of Sodom and Gomorrah and forcing everyone to openly acknowledge their acceptance of a sinful sexual behavior God says is an abomination. By the way, I’m fully aware that this view will strike a cord with many people, so let me take a moment to make the record clear. ANY sexual behavior outside of the God ordained covenant of marriage is SIN, point blank. While it is true that we were all created by God, we are not all children of God, the scripture is crystal clear on this fact. The reality is, God loves all of mankind equally, and God hates the sin committed by mankind equally. The fact that culture, news media and frankly most Christians draw distinctions contrary to the Word of God is irrelevant. My position is simply this, did God say it, then that settles it. These are truly the last days and the end times. I want to move on to how we guard against becoming vulnerable and subject to these tactics of our mortal enemy.

Guarding Against the Will of Satan

Get Out of the Kingdom Satan Rules

The first and foremost way to guard against the will of Satan is to be transferred from the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. This, of course, assumes you are not already a believer. If you are still in the Kingdom of Darkness, it goes without saying, there is no way for you to escape the will of Satan, because you are a citizen under his authority.

giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins Col 1:12-14 (NIV) he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will– to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace Eph 1:5-7 (NIV)

Choose to walk in the Kingdom Technology of the Fear of the Lord

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger Psalms 8:2 (KJV) And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? Matt 21:15-16 (KJV) Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective James 5:16 (NIV)

Alright, let’s see what the scripture has to say about guarding against the will of Satan. By the way, this list is not intended to be exhaustive nor complete. It is designed to focus on the Kingdom Technology of the Fear of the Lord and a few other very powerful tools to protect against the will of Satan taking root in our lives.

Praise

Look carefully at what the psalmist writes. In the mouths of those with childlike trust in God, He (God) has ordained strength because of our enemy and all of his forces so that we can issue a decree of silence against every evil work. However, the psalmist didn’t clearly reveal the source of that strength. Well, like He did in many other places in scripture, Jesus comes on the scene and brings perfect clarity to what the psalmist left out or didn’t know at the time. Jesus says, in the mouth of those with childlike trust in God, God has perfected praise. Now that is extremely powerful. So let’s bring them both together. In the mouth of those with childlike trust in God, He has ordained the strength of the believer to be perfected praise which silences Satan and all of his forces. The only thing left to understand is the meaning of perfected praise. The original Greek meant thoroughly complete in the sense of everyone in unity with authentic praise toward God as the result of fully understanding why He alone deserves our praise. It paints the ultimate picture of a group of believers all on the same page with their praise rooted in the same truth, excluding any and all distractions. A unified symphony of praise, if you will.

Prayer

Paul fully understood that when believers know what the Word of God promises, and they decide to put God in remembrance of His Word and make supplication in all manner of prayer, power is made available to the person or group of people, that Satan himself nor any of his forces can withstand. Let me just say that I know for a fact that is a truth that I recommend you begin and continue to walk in until the Lord Jesus returns for His bride.

Benefits of Walking in the Fear of the Lord

Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation Psalms 68:19 (KJV) Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits Psalms 103:2 (KJV) The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death Prov 14:27 (KJV) The fear of the Lord leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble Prov 19:23 (NIV) But godliness with contentment is great gain 1 Tim 6:6 (NIV) The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them Psalms 34:7 (NIV) He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge Prov 14:26 (NIV) The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate Prov 8:13 (KJV) Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the Lord a man avoids evil Prov 16:6 (NIV) The fear of the Lord adds length to life Prov 10:27a (NIV) In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge Prov 14:26 (KJV) Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil Prov 15:16 (NIV) The fear of the Lord teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor Prov 15:33 (NIV) Humility and the fear of the Lord bring wealth and honor and life Prov 22:4 (NIV)

I would first like to encourage you to frequently remind yourself of God’s benefits. It’s actually a commandment of the Lord. I’ll bullet point the benefits I included in this article. I encourage you to research the bible for all of the benefits of walking in the Kingdom Technology of the Fear of the Lord, you’ll be surprised at the huge list.

A Pathway to life with the ability to escape the many snares of death
Godly Contentment, which when coupled with Holiness guarantees great gain
Continual protection and deliverance from the Angels of the Lord
You being protected behind a secure fortress, which is the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, when our lives are hid in His and our children have a place of refuge. I’m not sure about you but I need this, especially now that the world wants to teach our children that homosexuality and lesbianism is okay at a very young age.
The spiritual discernment and power to hate that which is contrary to the will of God, walk in humility and the power to control our tongues
An extension to the time you’ve been granted on the earth when it serves the purposes of God
Strong confidence in God. This is a powerful deliverance from fear, which I actually experienced when I first was baptized in the Holy Spirit
Living in the peace of God that passes all understanding, no matter the situation
Being taught wisdom. How powerful a promise is that?
The combination of humility and the Fear of the Lord, which we’ve already seen also comes from the Fear of the Lord, brings men and women to wealth, honor and life eternal

Is it any wonder why the Kingdom Technology of the Fear of the Lord is critical to guarding against the wiles of the enemy? As usual, I recommend a brief prayer to seal what you’ve just read.

Father in Heaven, I know that you love me because your Word says you demonstrated that love by sending your only son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die for my sins. Father, in the name of Jesus, I acknowledge your awesome power, your everlasting mercy, the grace you have extended to me and your loving kindness which you continue to demonstrate. Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit, teach me how to give you praise and worship in the Spirit and in Truth. Teach me how to pray in a manner that puts you in remembrance of your Word and help me to request only that which is in harmony with your divine will for my life and my Church home. Finally Father, teach me how to walk in the Fear of the Lord. Father, give me your wisdom, understanding and knowledge so I can obey every commandment The Lord Jesus Christ gives me and so I can depart from every evil way that’s contrary to your ways.