Good day, Mdm!
We have been discussing on spiritual warfare for the past two weeks. We have specifically look into the tactics of the devil. One of the common tactics of Satan is to point us to ourselves, our identities and our needs. The moment he can grab hold of our attention in these areas, he can tempt us to trigger our emotions and as a result lead us to manifest into physical action.
At the garden of Eden, the serpent pointed Eve to her own desire. In other words, the serpent pointed her focus away from God's Word (despite God's warning on eating the tree of knowledge of good and evil). Do you see that? Have a look at Genesis 3. The serpent tried to lure Eve to the idea she can be superior, like God. But, she failed to realize that she was already like God! Didn't God said in Gen 1:26 "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule..."
Question: Who rule the earth before Adam & Eve were made? God. Now God said here "...so that they may rule.." Who were God referring to? Adam & Eve. From here, can you see that God is giving the rulership to them? Weren't they like God?
The thing is this. Satan is very cunning. So, spiritual warfare to some extent may not be as simple as it seem. We are fighting at something we cannot see (spiritual), yet at the same time we have to deal with some thing we can see, touch, feel, experience. Which is easier? To "see" the natural or spiritual?
Most of time, we can get carried away easily with our emotions (eg the pain on our neck, disappointment over the negative medical report, impatience over a slow driver in front, anger over critics or rude customer services, etc) because these are real; they can be felt, touched, experienced with our physical senses. Our physical senses demand our immediate respond. To complicate matter, Satan will cunningly present before us a "real" picture of our natural circumstances. Only when we have discerning Spirits, we can deal with the issues spiritually (for we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers and rulers of darkness).
Today, let's take a look at this passage below and see for ourselves how the different spirits manifested in Peter:
Matthew 16 (NKJV)
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed[d] in heaven.”
Here, Peter had a revelation who Jesus is, Son of God. Jesus praised him for what he saw in the Spirit. Now, let's continue with the passage and see what happen:
Matthew 16
21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”
23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
After Jesus told His disciples about what he needed to go through, Peter rebuke Him! Think about it... Peter, out of his love for Jesus, said this shall not happen to Him. Imagine, if you are Peter, will you say the same thing to Jesus out of your love for him? I probably would.
Look how Jesus said to Peter.. "Get behind Me, Satan!" Peter must have been confused. One moment, Jesus praised Him, next moment Jesus rebuked him. But, why Jesus rebuked him? Because he was not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.
So, from here we can see two different spirits at work. When Peter had a revelation of Christ, it is of the Spirit of God. Whereas, when Peter tried to "protect" Christ from going through the suffering, he was of the spirit of satan (Greek accuser)! Jesus claimed that he was mindful of the things of men.
What a contrasting difference, isn't it? At first, Jesus said it was not flesh and blood that reveal Christ to Peter, next moment, Jesus said Peter was mindful of the things of men. (Just a side track, it remind me of Peter walking on water; When he looked at Jesus, he walked on water; when he looked to his surrounding, he fell into the water)
We can love our Lord, Jesus for all the wrong reason. Peter did and but that spirit was wrong. It doesn't matter how long we are in Church, but if we go to Church for all the wrong reasons, even though we may claim that we love Him, that spirit maybe wrong.
Last week, we heard how this tutor manifested his anger in front of his student. Yes, he is a church goer. He love the Lord, I believe. But, of what spirit he manifested? Definitely not the Lord. When you read through the gospel, you will see that Jesus did not manifested nor condemned nor choose not to save the woman who was caught in adultery.He did not beat his chest and bang the table.
Instead, He delivered her from the hands of the Pharisees and assured her of no condemnation. A picture of Grace, Amen!
Strangely, when I spoke to the student's grandma, she thought that it was an arrangement from God. Far from it! Let's be very clear here. When a person manifested and began to beat his chest and bang table, that is not from God. Look at the spirit of that manifestation. What is your believe about God's spirit? Angry, frustrating, proud, impatience? We don't need a God to show us all these, isn't it? The world is already full of such spirits!
Our Lord is gracious. He is humble, He does not look down on people just because He is the Son of God. Instead, He bended down and lifted the adulteress woman up and said "Neither do I condemn you...go and sin no more.." Beautiful, isn't it?
He is all gracious and merciful. He is not here to condemn us but to save us from destruction. When we begin to see our Lord is such manner, it (the fruit) will empower us from within to sin no more. The manifestation of Christ from within will be gracious, not a mad frustrating creature. For He is Grace, Grace is He. If He is gracious, how much more we need to be reminded that we, too need to be gracious. And the beauty is, we don't have to strive with our own effort (Law) to be gracious, when we see Him in His Grace, the fruit of the empowerment is from within.
With that, I leave you with this verse to meditate:
Galatians 5:4 (AMP)
4 If you seek to be justified and declared righteous and to be given a right standing with God through the Law (own effort), you are brought to nothing and so separated (severed) from Christ. You have fallen away from grace (from God’s gracious favor and unmerited blessing).
Grace & peace be with you.
Shalom,
Bro
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