Know your enemy before you enter into battle

BY Argie Simonis

Obviously this whole message concerns the enemy of our soul, the devil. As I have mentioned in my other messages, satan is a defeated foe who is unfortunately overestimated by many people out of ignorance. He is a deceiver, a fraud, the father of lies (John 8:44) and the only power he has is the one we give him. 

There is no need to focus too much on him, but it is good to know the enemy we have to face before we enter the battle.

So let's start with his origins first. 

Most Christians believe that God created satan. And yet this is not true. God created Lucifer. I hope that after the description and explanation that I will give you, your point of view will change completely. You will realize that he is not as powerful as you think, and that he can do nothing without the cooperation of one person.

I believe that God created everything, including Lucifer. He created Lucifer as a powerful anointed angel. Nevertheless, Lucifer was not satisfied with this and did not remain the anointed Cherub that God created.

Let's read Ezekiel's description:

" You have been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of your tabrets and of your pipes was prepared in you in the day that you were created.

You are the anointed cherub that covers; and I have set you so: you were on the holy mountain of God; you have walked up and down in the middle of the stones of fire." Ezekiel 28:13-14

From this description it is probable that Lucifer was the leader of the worship of the Heavenly army of angels!

Many believe that Lucifer took a third of the angels and rebelled against God in Heaven, where he was defeated and then thrown to earth. All of this is taken from a single verse in Revelation 12:4:

"And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth..." Rev. 12:4

It is good to be a little more careful not to rush into whole doctrines based on just one verse without confirmation from other scriptures in the Bible.

I believe that Satan was originally on this earth in the Garden of Eden as Lucifer. He was the number one angel of God sent to earth to bless Adam and Eve.

There is a reference in the Bible for angels:

"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" Hebrews 1:14

Lucifer was not sent to earth to tempt Adam and Eve, but to bless them. He was an angelic being on a divine mission, sent to be their protector and to serve them. It was there in the Garden of Eden that Lucifer committed his transgression against God.

Let's continue reading from Ezekiel:

"You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, till iniquity was found in you." Ezekiel 28:15

At this point let's use our logic. Is it possible that God sent satan to Earth to tempt man to see how he would react?

Is there a father who would throw his child in the lion cage to see the reaction? That would be completely an irresponsible criminal act. No father would do that to his child and much less God the Father to Adam and Eve!

So what did made Lucifer turn against God?

Lucifer saw God do something for man that He did not do for any of His other creations. When the Lord created man, not only did He create him in His image and likeness, but He gave them unconditional and absolute power on Earth:

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Gen. 1:26

This power was given without any strings attached. God never told them 

"as long as you follow my advice and as long as you do what I want you to do, I will let you rule the earth"

God spoke it and His Word was a covenant:

"My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips." Psalm 89:34

God can not lie. The integrity of His Word is what keeps the whole universe together. Unlike us humans who have the right to change our minds, God will not violate His Word. When he told Adam and Eve that they had complete dominion, authority, and power to subdue and rule the earth, so it was.

"Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power..." Hebrews 1:3

Lucifer understood very well the integrity of God's words and when he heard this, I believe that something inside him arose. He saw that Adam and Eve had something he wanted but did not have: They had unconditional power. In a way, they had become gods of this world, they could subdue it and rule over it.

In Psalms we read:

"The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD's: but the earth has he given to the children of men." Psalm 115:16

Although Lucifer may have been God's number one angel, he wanted more. He was unsatisfied, jealous and greedy. In fact he wanted to take the place of God.

Look at what Isaiah writes: 

"For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also on the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High." Isaiah 14:13-14

Lucifer realized that if he could deceive Adam and Eve into giving up their power willingly, he could become the god of this world. He could take the power given to mankind, use it to overthrow the kingdom of God, and receive the worship and glory he wanted.

Paul writes in his letter to the Romans:

"Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?" Romans 6:16

The moment Adam and Eve submitted themselves to Lucifer's lies, he became satan, the god of this world. 

Of course the first question you will ask is: 

Satan deceived them. Shouldn't God have stopped him?

See what Paul writes to Timothy:

"And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression." 1Tim. 2:14

Adam was not deceived. He knew what he was doing.

I believe that the moment Lucifer disobeyed God's command and deceived Eve, he lost his angelic power. 

Satan now has no power or authority of his own, but only what man gave him after he deceived him.

This is the most important statement of this message and I hope it brings light in the dark areas of many of you.

Think about what this means and the application it can have to us as believers. When we resist the devil and fight against him, satan has no power or authority over us. He only has the one we give him because of the ignorance we have on this area. In short, due to our ignorance, we cooperate with him and authorize him to have access to our lives.

Satan roams like a roaring lion, seeking whom he can devour (1 Pet. 5:8)

He is looking for people who will open the door to him through things like lust, disobedience, strife, unforgiveness, fear and more. When we submit ourselves to these things, we enable him to gain access to our lives in order to steal, kill, and destroy us (John 10:10).

Until you understand the power and authority God has given you, you will never be able to defeat the devil, receive healing, prosper, and live a life of victory. Knowing your power is the key! 

I hope you were blessed with this message. Soon I will deal with the power we have as children of God. This teaching is an absolute necessity for every believer.

Amen.

 

Satan is a defeated foe

BY Argie Simonis

 

"And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season."

Luke 4:13

In our well-known Bible story about Satan's temptations to Jesus, let us take a closer look at what is happening. Satan attacked Jesus with his only weapon since the time of Adam and Eve: temptation.

So when Jesus resisted his temptations and lies, he had to leave. Notice that Jesus did not tell him to leave. The devil just left because there was nothing else he could do.

"There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it." 1Cor. 10:13

The devil knew that Jesus as his Creator was far superior to him. So when the Lord took human form, he saw it as an opportunity to tempt Him.

It is wrong to give the devil so much credit. He is a defeated foe, a fraud with a very limited space of action. According to the Bible, there are only 3 areas that the devil can tempt us:

"the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life..." 1John 2:16

1- The lust of the flesh = temptation to satisfy hunger by turning stone into bread,

2- the lust of the eyes = temptation to acquire all the glory of the kingdoms of this world by worshiping satan, and

3- the pride of life = temptation to “show off” His power by having the angels come to His rescue.

When we resist the devil, we put on our armor and hold our ground (Ephesians 6:13). The only power he has over us is that he can tempt us, and then he must leave (1 Corinthians 10:13; Galatians 6: 9)

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." James 4:7

Amen?

My joy is in the Lord

 BY Argie Simonis

"Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice." Phil. 4:4

Do you know that Paul was writting these words from prison? And yet, this letter mentions the words "rejoice" and "joy" more than any of his letters. True joy does not depend on circumstances.

It is also important that Paul here does not simply recommend that we rejoice. It is a command. "Rejoice" is a verb, it is something we do, while joy is a noun, it is a situation in which we find ourselves.

We may not always be happy, but we can always rejoice. We can rejoice no matter what happens to us, otherwise Paul would not have given us such a command.

So how do we do that?

The words "joy" and "rejoice" were used many times in this short letter, which is one of Paul's happiest letters, even though it was written while he was in prison. The Bible clearly teaches that our joy is in the person of Christ and not in the circumstances.

Joy is an action that is acted upon by us and not our reaction to the environment around us. Joy is a gift from God given to us in our salvation. It is one of the fruits of the Spirit of God who lives in us as born-again children of His and does not increase or decrease. (Gal. 5:22)

Our part is to "work" it, that is, to put it into practice:

"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." Phil. 3:12

Notice now that this command "Rejoice in the Lord always" is in the present imperative tense. Paul was giving a long-term application command, meaning that we must rejoice out of habit, to make this a way of life.

Most people see emotions, such as joy, as reactions to what is happening to them. But godly feelings are based on what our Christ has already done, regardless of what happens in the physical world. Otherwise, it would be absurd for Paul to command us to rejoice always. And he repeats it for a second time in the same verse, so that we do not miss this!

I understand that we live in difficult and wicked times and bad things happen even to good people. If emotions were merely chemical reactions of our brain to the environment around us, to problems or lack of problems, then in no case could we keep that command.

But emotions are actions based on our choices. If we choose to focus on what Christ has done for us, then we can rejoice no matter what happens around us.

No one wants to be unhappy, but our emotions follow our thoughts. Do you know that we can choose how we feel?

If we think negative things, either real or imagined, we will have negative emotions. If we think about the wonderful things God has done for us, we will have positive emotions, regardless of the conditions we experiencein our natural environment:

"For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." Rom. 8:6

Rejoicing always has nothing to do with what is happening to us right now but has to do with focusing on what has already happened to us and what has been promised to us in Christ.

Notice also that we are commanded to rejoice "in the Lord". Many people do not experience true joy because their joy lies in their circumstances. They expect to be happy when things go well in their lives, which of course does not happen very often.

What we need to do is rejoice in who the Lord is and what He has done for us. He never changes (Hebrews 13: 8), and

"It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.

They are new every morning: great is your faithfulness." Lem. 3:22-23

Amen!

How to prosper in the midst of a famine

  BY Argie Simonis

"Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundred times: and the LORD blessed him.

And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:" Gen. 26:12-13

The blessing of the Lord was not seen in Isaac's life at a time when everyone was enjoying prosperity. The Lord blessed him in a year of famine:

"The blessing of the LORD, it makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it." Proverbs 10:22

This increase would not have happened if Isaac had not sown, even in difficult times. I believe that many people, thinking that there is no chance of success, do not even bother to sow. How many times have we found ourselves in similar cases? Especially now with all these restrictions, prohibitions and the violation of our rights that we experience. But we do not know what the future holds:

"In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening withhold not your hand: for you know not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good." Ecclesiastes 11:6

If we do not sow, we will certainly not reap (Galatians 6:7).

It's amazing how good things happen to those who get their hands on things:

"The LORD shall command the blessing on you in your storehouses, and in all that you set your hand to..." Deut. 28:8

We have a special promise for God's provision during times of famine:

"They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied." Psalm 37:19

Another lesson we learn here is that Isaac "sowed in that land." He would not have the same results if he sowed in a place different from what the Lord had told him. The blessing of the Lord was where the Lord had told Isaac to be. We see the same in the case of the prophet Elijah:

"And it shall be, that you shall drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there." 1 Kings 17:4

The Lord did not send the crows where Elijah was. He sent the crows where he told Elijah to go. God had already ordered the ravens to bring him food there.

Hundredfold returns are unlikely to be made even in good times. The fact that this happened to Isaac during a time of famine is a proof of the blessing of the Lord in his life.

And one more thing that is perhaps the biggest lesson from this story: Isaac did not get prosperous in an instant. His prosperity came in steps, from a series of right decisions that he made and were blessed by God for a period of time until he became "very great."

The most important decision we can make is our praise, thanksgiving, and trust in His promises:

"Let the people praise you, O God; let all the people praise you.

O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for you shall judge the people righteously, and govern the nations on earth. 

Let the people praise you, O God; let all the people praise you.

Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.

God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him." Psalm 67:3-7

Amen?