Living with the enemy
THE MIND
Haven't you had moments when you feel with the least value as a person? As if your mind beat you, making you believe all kinds of barbarities about yourselves? Well yes to me, and this has happened many times, and even more so when I am about to do something significant in my life, I have horrible doubts and thoughts that I will not be able to achieve it, or when I am stuck and feel that I don't move forward, when I can't achieve something in the time I've set for myself, when I fight with someone I care about a lot and hurt them, and when I act in ways that don't please God, and some will say, "Oh girl but take it easy !”, the matter is as follows; I'm not a person to take things lightly, and don't think it's easy for me to admit it, I speak to you from my heart.
The mind is more powerful than you think, and it can make you believe horrible things about yourself and even about your environment or those around you, sometimes we can have our minds captive in our own thoughts, and lack an apparent way out of that captivity.
My worst enemy is my own mind and I live with it on a daily basis, and I will have to fight with it for the rest of my life. I have felt useless on so many occasions that I no longer have fingers to count them, but I have to tell you, we have consolation in the word and tools to combat these feelings that ultimately do not come from God, it is not that it is an easy task, but it is not impossible .
In 1 Corinthians 2:16, Paul quotes Isaiah 40:13 and then makes a statement referring to all believers saying; "We have the mind of Christ."
16 For who has known the mind of the Lord? Who will instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. -1 Corinthians 2:16 KJV
13 Who taught the Spirit of Jehovah, or counseled him by teaching him? -Isaiah 40:13 KJV
In the next part you will see what Paul means when he says that we have the mind of Christ, since as believers we have powerful tools to overcome the test and all the tricks of the enemy against us, to make us falter and make us believe all kinds of lies.
THE TRIAL
The enemy wanted to deceive Jesus and make him feel the same way, the people around him did too, they constantly degraded him by calling him the son of the carpenter (at that time it meant that he was someone poor), the one who came from Bethlehem "What good can come out of Bethlehem", they told him that he took out demons in the name of Beelzebub, as if the enemy could expel himself.
Let's go to the book of Matthew 4: 1-11 KJV where it says;
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came to him and said, If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread. 4 He answered and said: It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to him: If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written: "He will command his angels about you, and they will hold you up in their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone."
7 Jesus said to him, It is also written: You shall not tempt the Lord your God. 8 Another time he took the devil to him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, 9 and said to him: All this I will give you, if you bow down and worship me. 10 Then Jesus said to him, Go away, Satan, for it is written: You will worship the Lord your God, and him only you will serve. 11 The devil then left him; and behold, angels came and ministered to him.
THE COUNTERATTACK, THE VICTORY
We are going to break this biblical portion down:
Verses 1-2: It says that Jesus was fasting forty days and forty nights and the Holy Spirit led him into the desert so that he might be tempted, two things; 1. The Holy Spirit does not tempt anyone, but he does allow you to be, by order of God himself, so that you can be tested. 2. Jesus was at the end of his fast, therefore he was spiritually strong, and his flesh was weak, since he was hungry, the enemy knew perfectly well what he wanted at that moment, and he went and stayed and offered it. A couple of other things should be noted; 1. The enemy cannot read your thoughts but he can hear your words, he sees situations and deduces them, studies your behavior and gives you where it hurts the most according to this. 2. The enemy can only go so far in temptation, remember that God along with the test gives the way out. 3. You need to be prepared in word and Spirit to be able to resist and Jesus was.
Verse 3-4. "The tempter" as it says in this verse, will always attack first by sabotaging and questioning your identity, "if you are a child of God", and then he will attack with the present need, the enemy knew that Jesus was hungry, therefore he attacked him with his need immediately, but Jesus was strengthened and during his time in the desert he learned that the word that comes out of the mouth of God is greater food than any food and drink, so he answered him with that same word, of which Jesus was already full .
Verses 5-7: Notice several things and I will list them; 1. Do not trust, the enemy also knows the word from beginning to end, and he will use it against you to try to confuse you. 2. The enemy tried to make Jesus use the authority as a son to get out of the situation he was in, he took him to the holy city and placed him on the highest part of the temple, can you imagine that panorama? Standing on a roof, without stairs to go down, in a high place, where you know that if you jump you will hurt yourself?, and even more knowing that you have the power to call angels who are at your disposal to get you out of that situation, let us remember that Jesus is the first-born son of God, at this precise moment he is the only-begotten, because the adoption through blood had not yet been consummated, since Christ had not yet died and risen on the Cross. 3. Can you imagine having all that authority that Jesus had to do whatever he wanted and not use it? Would you refrained from using it? 4. Something very important to note here, Jesus basically told the enemy; do not go overboard, be careful with yourself, if you mess with my Father you will have a bad time, I love this, Jesus knew that he had the powerful giant on his side, he knew that his father was for him and that he would not leave him, and that He would get him out of that situation, Jesus knew that he did not have to call any angel to rescue him, because the Father himself would take care of him. Remember that the only mediator between God and men is Jesus, we do not have to invoke any saint, or any guardian angel, it is God through Christ who is the only one we must call to our aid.
Verses 8-10: Again the enemy took him to a high place, but this time for something very different; Since he could no longer convince him through words because he knew them, nor with his immediate need because he was strengthened, nor with his identity because he knew who he was, he offered him material goods, and this is where many of us failed the test (when I mean material goods, it can be anything, except an immediate need), we all long for that power that comes from having possessions and wealth, we all long for that freedom, and many of us are not granted it because God knows our hearts and knows that we would be corrupted if we had it, those things that we want but are not necessary and sometimes they are not even material, but the desire to have them governs us, do you believe that God will give them to you? Another very important thing; the enemy gave him another object of worship, how many people do we know who change God for something or someone? How many have changed God for their partner, for their job, for a company, even for the ministry, how many people have taken the worship that belongs to God to give it to creation? They forget the creator and return to their creation , how ironic! It always reminds me of the golden calf that the people of Israel made when they saw that Moses did not come down from the mountain, while Moses was in communion with God creating the tables of the Ten Commandments, the people were downstairs busy creating another god, because they thought that God Almighty had abandoned them, doesn't that sound familiar? When you pray to God and He is silent? When you seek his "guidance" in difficult times, and he doesn't tell you anything, what do you do when the only thing you hear from God is His silence? How do you feel? I will speak for myself; I felt alone, disappointed, impatient, and I ended up making a decision myself, and I did not wait for God's response, and I took my decision as good and valid and later when everything went wrong, I came to God with claims saying; "You were to blame because you didn't tell me anything and I asked you" HAHA, how deluded I am, as if God worked at my service or had to respond whenever I want. Jesus was clear about what he should do, Jesus was clear about who was the only one deserving of worship, and who we should serve, I am very sure that when Jesus reminded the enemy of these things, he must have been quite upset.
Verse 11: After passing the test victoriously, angels came and served him, do you see what I mean? Jesus did not have to call the angels to get him out of the problem, Jesus did not have to throw a tantrum or make any hasty decisions, Jesus obeyed and waited for the Lord to supply for him, and he had the reward from him.
THE PERFECT MAN
In the bible since it reaches the new testament, it exhorts us to be like Jesus and to seek to reach the height of the perfect man, referring to spiritual maturity, but many times we only read these passages and do not necessarily understand the message, but what he refers to is just what I mentioned above, it is to know the word, that our first need is to please the Lord and do His will, and put our gifts and talents at the service of the body of Christ, know who we are and not bow our hearts to possessions, and even to people, is that we lay up treasures in heaven not on earth.
In Ephesians 4:11-15 it says;
11 And he himself appointed some, apostles; to others, prophets; to others, evangelists; others, pastors and teachers, 12 in order to perfect the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, 13 until we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 so that we may no longer be fluctuating children, carried everywhere by every wind of doctrine, by the stratagem of men who cunningly use the tricks of error to deceive, 15 but following the truth in love, we may grow in everything in him who is the head, that is, Christ.
Stratagem: Skillful and deceitful action to get something; especially the military operation or maneuver of war that is carried out to attack the enemy by surprise, disarm him, etc. Similar; Cunning, ruse, artifice, deception.
In the NIV version it speaks of “deceitful tricks”. We are called to reach the fullness of Christ, so as not to fluctuate and not let ourselves be deceived, neither with false doctrines nor with the lies of the enemy, and this is what Paul refers to when he says that believers have the mind of Christ, since that we are called to all these things.
WHAT YOU LET IN, WHAT YOU DECIDE TO BELIEVE
The main reason why all those negative thoughts go through our heads is because we forget all these things, we forget the promises of God and what His word says, sometimes we get so busy with the cares of life, that we do not dedicate enough time to reading the word, not only to preach, but to feed ourselves spiritually. WE ARE NOT GARBAGE, God does not make garbage, He redeemed us through the blood of Christ, WE ARE HIS CHILDREN and co-heirs of his grace , and we must stop believing the lies that the enemy plants in our minds, and believe what God has said. Let us strengthen our faith through the word, it is the only way in which we will have power and authority to rebuke the enemy and not deceive us.
EXHORTATION
Although our mind is our enemy many times, and it is true that we live with it in a constant fight, God has given us tools to fight the good fight, many believe that fighting the good fight of faith is only with those who are in against the gospel, but I have to tell you that this battle is also with ourselves, in believing what God has said about us, and in carrying out His word and His will in our lives, that is why it is called "the battle of the faith” because it is constantly clinging to what we have believed and confessed, “faith is obedience in constant growth” Says my pastor Lissette, and without giving place to lies and deceit, but rather having certainty in the midst of waiting and being convinced even if we do not see.
