You have an Adversary!
In the last post, I said that you have an adversary, the Bible calls him Satan or the Devil. Satan is the enemy of God and therefore your enemy too. Satan wants you to deny God and if he is unable to do that, he wants to make you ineffective as a Christian. I closed in the last episode by saying, “which spirit are you listening to? The spirit of other people, the spirit of the devil, or the spirit of God! Show More
Influence
This is an important question because we are influenced by so much around us and most of it, we are not consciously aware of. For example, the entire advertising industry is based upon name recognition and repetition of ads and commercials. It’s called branding a product in the business. The idea is that when you shop for an item you will, often without thinking, choose their product. Advertisers are trying to create name recognition even for products you don’t use… now! Think about It, 15-20 minutes of a one-hour TV show are commercials! Because of the repetition, the message becomes subliminal- you’re not even consciously aware of it.
The same thing is happening on a spiritual level. The three areas of concern are the influence of other people’s spirit, the influence of the Devil, and of course the influence of God through the Holy Spirit.
We are Spirit, Soul and Body!
What do I mean by the influence of the human spirit? Remember what I said in a previous post. “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but we are spiritual beings having a human experience”. How you see yourself is so important in this regard. John 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life”. You are spirit, soul, and body, not simply soul and body!
Remember:
- Your physical body communicates with the physical realm through taste, sight, hearing smell and touch.
- Your soul, which means your mind, will,
and personality, communicates with the souls of other people. This is the issue when we talk about the influence of the souls of others.
- Your spirit, which has been born again and is able to communicate with God’s spirit now but has always been able to be influenced by the Devil, who is also spirit.
Factors in Making Decisions in Life- Love or Fear!
In general, people are influenced in their decision making in one of two ways, love or fear. Keep in mind what the Bible has to say about fear,
- 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear (timidity), but of power (Dynamis) and of love (Agape) and of a sound mind (Self-Control)”.
- 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear (dread or terror) in love (Agape); but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment (punishment). But he who fears has not been made perfect in love (Agape)”.
- The Love Factor– True love is unconditional, which means it is not about what you can get back. It is a decision rather than a feeling or emotion. I like the definition of love as, “living your life for someone else’s good”. What matters is pleasing the one you love, not necessarily an emotion but a decision. It is a commitment to love, through thick and thin.
Today, sex often passes for love, but in truth, sex is about pleasure and usually pleasing self. It is emotion-based, the degree of love is dependent on feelings. It is a poor counterfeit for unconditional love. Unconditional love is the kind of love God has for you and the kind of love He wants to teach you to have for others.
- The Fear Factor– This has to do with the fear of the loss of a person, place or thing.
- The fear of the loss of a relationship– over the ages people have made incredibly bad decisions trying to hold onto a relationship. I’ve seen many cases of people staying in an abusive relationship for fear of losing the relationship, codependence is a word that comes to mind. Wikipedia defines Codependency as a behavioral condition in a relationship where one person enables another person’s addiction, poor mental health, immaturity, irresponsibility, or under-achievement. Among the core characteristics of codependency is an excessive reliance on other people for approval and a sense of identity.
- The fear of the loss of money/finances– It says in 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows”. The gain or loss of money is a slippery slope and has caused people to do things they would never imagine they were capable of. The slippery slide always begins with small things. A petty theft, a minor betrayal, a lie on an application, and then on to bigger dishonesty. Greed and integrity cannot exist together.
- The fear of the loss of influence or power– whether in the board-room of corporate America or in the family home the sense of losing power or influence over others has led to the manipulation and control over others.
- The fear of pain. The fear of pain can take many forms. Growing as a Believer requires change, whether they are physical, emotional, or spiritual. It may mean a change in friends, job, education, location, habits, and behaviors. Many people find that those kinds of changes are painful, but they are also filled with great rewards. Remember the expression, “Doing something over and over again, expecting change is a form of insanity!” Hear from God and Just Do It!
Let me personalize the verse I quoted earlier, it is worth memorizing:
- 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given ME a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind”.
Let me close with this thought. Learn to recognize that when you experience fear that it’s not coming from God. When those feelings come upon you, turn to Jesus, and call out to Him. Repeat 1 Timothy 1:7. Be reminded that on the Cross, Jesus paid the price to set you free from fear. He has exchanged that spirit of fear with His spirit of love, joy, and peace!
