June 25, 2020
The followers of Christ have enemies. Always have, always will. It is important to understand those enemy’s tactics. Some are described in Ezra, Chapter 4 when the Israelites began to rebuild the temple that had laid in ruins for many years.
ENEMIES OFTEN MASQUERADE AS FRIENDS TO INFILTRATE GOD’S WORK
Jesus said that there would be “tares among the wheat.” The Bible also says that Satan Himself parades as an angel of light. Paul spoke of those who came into the church to “spy out our liberty in Christ.”
Now when the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to the Lord God of Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ households, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.” But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, “You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us.” (Ezra 4:1-3)
ENEMIES SEEK TO DISCOURAGE, FRIGHTEN, AND FRUSTRATE COUNSEL
If your enemy cannot stop you, he will seek to slow you down through fear or discouragement. Or, he will seek to bring conflicting counselors into your life to divert you to an alternate route.
Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building and hired counselors against them to frustrate their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. (Ezra 4:4-5)
ENEMIES ALWAYS USE FALSE ACCUSATIONS
Satan is an “Accuser of the brethren” who accuses Christians “day and night.” It is one of his primary tactics.
Now in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. (Ezra 4:6)
You will always have one primary enemy. It is not your co-workers or your mate or those around you if you are a follower of Christ. It is the one who comes to “steal, kill, and destroy.” Paul reminds us of this in Ephesians 6:
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. (Ephesians 6:10-13)
If you want to complete the work that God has called you to do, you must make sure you are in intimate communion with God. Read His Word alone and be encouraged by godly counselors who know and believe His Word. Stay near in unceasing prayer so that the voice of God can continually lift and direct you. And never give up.
Know that "greater is He that is in us and he that is in the world." Keep standing and keep working. God's work done in God's way will accomplish God's will in God's time!
Father, open my eyes. Help me to see the true enemies who seek to thwart your work. Let me never take this personal, but realize their great agenda is to stop You and rob You of the glory You alone should receive. Give me Your strength to stand firm and resist them boldly in faith. And help me to never give up!
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All of us are dramatically shaped by how we view ourselves. Some have too low a perspective; some too high. To be imbalanced here is harmful in either direction.
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And then he said with a twinkle in his eye that had seen nine decades plus, “I believe this may be the best season of my life!”
