FACING THE ADVERSARY, DISCOURAGEMENT

Robbie L. Rogers

First of all I want to say this area is an area that needs a lot of dealing with, and as Christians we need to give God permission to delve into our lives as he reveals such deficiencies to us.

As I prepared for this I took note while listening to conversations during the week, as to the number of times the words discouragement and adversary was used in discussing our everyday life's difficulties.  I counted over twenty-five times that those two exact words were used, kind of amazing isn't it. 

We so-called Christians seemed to be easily defeated by the smallest circumstances. By-the-way I did not measure up to the proper standards either. You may have a different opinion of yourself, but as for me I publicly admit I was found wanting.

DANIEL 6:20-22 "When he got there, he called out in anguish, "Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God, whom you worship continually able to rescue you from the lions?"

Daniel answered, "Long live the king! My God sent his angel to shut the lions' mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight. And I have not wronged you, Your Majesty."

Facing the adversary and discouragement are actually a one-in-the-same problem.

Daniel, it could be said by all, faced the adversary to the fullest, we could further say that Daniel faced Satan himself.

The king believed in Daniel's God.  Why is that; He was not born into a belief as some of us were, oh sure we all have our own brand of gutter to glory story, but essentially most of us were brought up under a certain amount of Christian attitudes, that is unless we were not brought up in this nation at all?  The king believed in God because of the fact of who Daniel was and as to Daniel's witness towards him. It is of course only through the power of God to call or even to reveal Himself to anyone that the king saw and believed, which is what He did there.  God further revealed Himself through the lion's den episode.

Daniel had to do only one thing and that was to display all of the symptoms we are discussing; they rested in the lion's den by knowing God, thereby having or displaying "FAITH" in a God they KNEW.

JOHN 17:15. "I'm not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one."

1 JOHN 5:18-20 "We know that those who have become part of God's family do not make a practice of sinning, for God's Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot get his hands on them. We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the power and control of the evil one.  And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we are in God because we are in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life."

There are only two factors in this world period: God and Satan!

One factor (Satan) acts or rather is only able to act because the other allows it to. In like manner, God allows us to deal in the sinful areas of life because He is not a controlling God; and we allow Satan in our willingness to follow our fleshly desires to draw ourselves aside, rather than doing God's ways, .

There is good and evil; God and Satan. We tend to equate our living as though there were more. However our body, our flesh, when set on itself, is in enmity with God and therefore we live in a battleground of forces. Our Body is at war within itself.

ROMAN 8:6-7 "If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God's laws, and it never will."

So that in reality we are brought back to only two factors. If we are to do battle as we profess, we must accept the duties of soldier of God, which is what we are.

We should put on the Armor of God each morning as a reminder of our responsibilities toward that area. Those of us who have memories of the past, of the war effort will remember the slogans and first line defenses of our nation, "The enemy is not to be trusted, do not believe his lies, for he will try to deceive you."

1 PETER 4:12-14 "Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad because these trials will make you partners with Christ in his suffering, and afterward you will have the wonderful joy of sharing his glory when it is displayed to all the world. Be happy if you are insulted for being a Christian, for then the glorious Spirit of God will come upon you."

1 PETER 5:8-10 "Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour. Take a firm stand against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are. In his kindness God called you to his eternal glory by means of Jesus Christ. After you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation."

"For our adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour," remember Daniel if you hear him roaring sinful thoughts in your ear, making your flesh react as an enemy toward God, or simply testing your courage as a soldier of the Faithful God.

We must deal with "facing the adversary" in the simplest of terms. God is good, Satan is bad. Two ways, two thoughts, only two factors. We must accept the one and reject the other, simple fact.

In the latter days many will fall away, some will even believe they have a right to enter the Masters Joy, but will be turned back because they were not really of God. This simple fact requires an even simpler response, but that is where we falter and tend to make it difficult rather than simple.

Ponder these things, good and evil, God and Satan, equate them, good vs evil; God vs Satan; positive vs negative thoughts, deeds, actions, forces.

Encouragement vs discouragement, God vs Satan, do you get the point?

1 CORINTHIANS 10:13 "But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can't stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it."

He will always  show you the way out but you have to take it, over powering your desires; and as such, you have to be of a mind or have the desire to resist or be strong before God will  intervene generally.  In other words, you must take the way out that He shows you.  He will never make you do the right thing.

Do you realize how easy it would have been for Daniel to have been afraid in the lion's den. God knew Daniel just as He knows each of us. We know His scripture says He will not be mocked, therefore we can stand on His word in that if we believe we are being tempted beyond what we are able to bear. We have only to call out to Him as we did in the beginning, "God I need you and can't handle this alone. Please help me bear this burden as you have promised through Christ".

1 JOHN 4:1-6 "Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. This is the way to find out if they have the Spirit of God: If a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ became a human being, that person has the Spirit of God. If a prophet does not acknowledge Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist. You have heard that he is going to come into the world, and he is already here. But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won your fight with these false prophets, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. These people belong to this world, so they speak from the world's viewpoint, and the world listens to them. But we belong to God; that is why those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception."

JAMES 4:4-8 "You adulterers! Don't you realize that friendship with this world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, that if your aim is to enjoy this world, you can't be a friend of God. What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the Holy Spirit, whom God has placed within us, jealously longs for us to be faithful? He gives us more and more strength to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say, 'God sets himself against the proud, but he shows favor to the humble.' So humble yourselves before God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, you hypocrites."

John is saying again that Satan is in the world and those who are in the world will listen to him, do not be deceived by those who would try to carry you away, especially don't listen to your wrong thinking. The thinking that Satan would have you follow. 

Accept the healing, reject the illness, this is difficult but only requires the elements we've been talking about plus, faith, hope, trust, believing, and simply as we have stated it, understanding the character of God.

Now I want to interject knowing the character of Satan, he is easy to know for he is simply, all that is bad... period!  However, he will always come to you as a well meaning friend, or as a whisper, just a little white lie in your ear. Remember he is the great deceiver; what he will never do is come up and say I am a thief and have come to rob you of all that God desires of you.

MATTHEW 8:5-13 "When Jesus arrived in Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him, "Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralyzed and racked with pain." Jesus said, "I will come and heal him." Then the officer said, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed! I know, because I am under the authority of my superior officers and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, 'Go,' and they go, or 'Come,' and they come. And if I say to my slaves, 'Do this or that,' they do it." When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd, he said, 'I tell you the truth, I haven't seen faith like this in all the land of Israel!  And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the world and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven. But many Israelites - those for whom the Kingdom was prepared - will be cast into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, 'Go on home. What you have believed has happened.' And the young servant was healed that same hour."

Let's seek the Lord for His strength, to become an empowered Christian who is at least not easily discouraged, for we now know where discouragement comes from. Let's fight the good fight and rely on God to deal with our weaknesses and protect our back side, never being fearful for God will not allow us to be tempted more than we are capable of handling. Let us however be strong and not weak in spirit so that we may be used as He needs us, in the duties of battle against the prince of darkness.

Ask God to teach you how to become the willing servant, a solider of truth, a centurion who knows how to be disciplined unto battle.

If you desire to know more about this Jesus Christ who loves you, and you want to ask Him  into your heart, receiving His Saving Grace please click on this Salvation Prayer