Ruthless
See how slippery and ruthless he is in this: he even offers us 'carnal gratification' in exchange for our belief in our oneness, but of course, we would never accept this if it hadn't been cloaked in a false spirituality.
See how slippery and ruthless he is in this: he even offers us 'carnal gratification' in exchange for our belief in our oneness, but of course, we would never accept this if it hadn't been cloaked in a false spirituality.
For example, Satan says, 'Okay, perhaps our church could bless other churches around us more than we do, but we are building a very "successful" church/ministry for God's glory. Besides, we believe God has called us to build a big church in this town; others just don't have our vision.'
Big is appealing to our carnality, leaders, because we can measure it, but it's not so easy to measure our oneness. However, let's pray that our carnal 'measuring' will yield to spiritual faith in what God has already given us; then we will surely see an increased measure far beyond our carnal interpretation of 'big.'
However, we find ourselves building a big church/ministry while unknowingly 'conversing' with our enemy regarding the 'hard currency' that our enemy is really interested in from us. Surprise, surprise, he wants our belief in our oneness, but he can't steal it without our consent, so he needs us to willingly, but unwittingly, give it up very cheaply—our very identity.
But for that to happen, we'd have to believe it is of little value, far less than a 'big' church or ministry appears to us. But as the Body of Christ, he's only giving us his pawns, yet we're mistakenly believing we've done well, focusing 100% of our efforts on building for the glory of God;
we've done well we conclude.
Not serving or blessing other churches and denominations as our own is a small price to pay for the expansion and growth
(in the natural) of our ministry, church, or denomination.
The way he achieves this is to always keep us facing toward
his 'backdrop' and not the truth.
He knows us, and Satan will soothe us with his comprehensive knowledge of what he knows we individually need to hear,
to accept, and 'feel' absolved of responsibility for allowing and being part of his deviation from what we know in our inner spiritual core to be our oneness truth.
Big is appealing to our carnality, leaders, because we can measure it, but it's not so easy to measure our oneness. However, let's pray that our carnal 'measuring' will yield to spiritual faith in what God has already given us; then we will surely see an increased measure far beyond our carnal interpretation of 'big.'
However, we find ourselves building a big church/ministry while unknowingly 'conversing' with our enemy regarding the 'hard currency' that our enemy is really interested in from us. Surprise, surprise, he wants our belief in our oneness, but he can't steal it without our consent, so he needs us to willingly, but unwittingly, give it up very cheaply—our very identity.
But for that to happen, we'd have to believe it is of little value, far less than a 'big' church or ministry appears to us. But as the Body of Christ, he's only giving us his pawns, yet we're mistakenly believing we've done well, focusing 100% of our efforts on building for the glory of God;
we've done well we conclude.
Not serving or blessing other churches and denominations as our own is a small price to pay for the expansion and growth
(in the natural) of our ministry, church, or denomination.
The way he achieves this is to always keep us facing toward
his 'backdrop' and not the truth.
He knows us, and Satan will soothe us with his comprehensive knowledge of what he knows we individually need to hear,
to accept, and 'feel' absolved of responsibility for allowing and being part of his deviation from what we know in our inner spiritual core to be our oneness truth.
For example: Not serving a local church because they are interpreting Scripture incorrectly in our view.
'We don't have a problem with them; it's just their doctrine.
We'll have to leave them to it.'
It's an obvious attempt at justification, but it doesn't fly with me, and it doesn't fly with the Truth.
'We don't have a problem with them; it's just their doctrine.
We'll have to leave them to it.'
It's an obvious attempt at justification, but it doesn't fly with me, and it doesn't fly with the Truth.
We then find ourselves accepting this situation, satisfied to believe that we're better soldiers for Christ if we down-grade in our hearts, wasting no more time and resources on this 'impossible unity,' and focus everything instead on doing God's work—that which we were called to.
Satan tells us not to worry, though, that there are far more important things than unity, especially now that God has blessed us with this big church; His favour is obviously upon us.
Yet, leaders, please believe me that when the Lord gave you your calling and ministry, it was never meant to be more important than the oneness of the Body.
To put 100% of our focus on our own church or ministry and nothing for the whole is not something you would encourage among your own congregation on a person-to-person level.
It's no different. This holy spiritual principle of unity was never meant to be kept within our own buildings.
We are one, and we don't have to comprehend it;
our own understanding will not help us here. If you don't agree or believe, please let's—you and I and our God—get together and see what He has to say to us. If you can't do that,
we both know the reason.
We then find ourselves accepting this situation, satisfied to believe that we're better soldiers for Christ if we down-grade in our hearts, wasting no more time and resources on this 'impossible unity,' and focus everything instead on doing God's work—that which we were called to.
Satan tells us not to worry, though, that there are far more important things than unity, especially now that God has blessed us with this big church; His favour is obviously upon us.
Yet, leaders, please believe me that when the Lord gave you your calling and ministry, it was never meant to be more important than the oneness of the Body.
To put 100% of our focus on our own church or ministry and nothing for the whole is not something you would encourage among your own congregation on a person-to-person level.
It's no different. This holy spiritual principle of unity was never meant to be kept within our own buildings.
We are one, and we don't have to comprehend it;
our own understanding will not help us here. If you don't agree or believe, please let's—you and I and our God—get together and see what He has to say to us. If you can't do that,
we both know the reason.
It's at this exact moment that the enemy reminds us of our great commission, offering us a detailed view of the endless fields in need of our harvesting labour. Multitudes of hurting people on one hand, and what looks like an unattainable, resource-draining ideology on the other, and the deal is done.
"Never underestimate your enemy".
"Never underestimate your enemy".