Are You Tolerating the Enemy

The governor invited Barnabas and Saul in, wanting to hear God’s Word firsthand from them. But Dr. Know-It-All (that’s the wizard’s name in plain English) stirred up a ruckus, trying to divert the governor from becoming a believer.

 But Saul (or Paul), full of the Holy Spirit and looking him straight in the eye, said, “You bag of wind, you parody of a devil—why, you stay up nights inventing schemes to cheat people out of God.

 But now you’ve come up against God himself, and your game is up. You’re about to go blind—no sunlight for you for a good long stretch.” He was plunged immediately into a shadowy mist and stumbled around, begging people to take his hand and show him the way.

Acts 13:10,11 The Message

If more "believers", would just stop with all the "did you know that so and so is a jezebel", or whatever spirit they decide to label them, and not employ this type of passive, pantywaist, spineless gossip, but instead they exercised their God given authority to shut their mouths or their eyes, we might just have less people evacuating churches with their tails tucked between their legs thinking they might be next on "jezzies", list.

It troubles me that the body at large has practically rolled out the red carpet for the enemy allowing him to  wreak havoc and instill fear in Gods people. This is as a result of cowering to these minions who so easily steer so many away from God and cause so much needless division and chaos.

From my observation, it looks like spiritual cannibalism. Christians devouring each other while the enemy gloats from his ivory tower. The enemy has been very effective and it is truly heart wrenching that we as a body, so often tolerate this foolishness.

 Revelation 2:20 The Passion Translation (TPT)

²⁰ But I have this against you: you tolerate that woman Jezebel,^[a] who calls herself a prophetess and is seducing my loving servants. She is teaching that it is permissible to indulge in sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.^[b]

 Jezebel, King Ahab’s wicked queen, was immoral and practiced idolatry. She released into Israel a spirit of darkness that hindered God’s faithful ones by attempting to mix the worship of Baal with the worship of the true God. She becomes a symbol of a spirit of tolerance and compromise, which teaches that God’s loving servants can sin and not experience any consequence. See 1 Kings 16:29-31; 18:4.

Don't just stand by and allow this kind of evil to operate in your midst.

You don't have too! But you do need to know how to effectively war with these demons.

If you can discern that these spirits or similar ones are operating and doing things to disrupt the kingdom, your family, friends and those in your tribe, "see something say something" and for God's sake DO SOMETHING!

I would much rather call out and expose a foul spirit and be asked to leave a place,(which in most cases just reveals more of what's behind the curtain) then to ever allow them to continue with their evil plot, destroying the lives of God's people.

This is not about being haughty, proud, being aggressive and becoming a demon hunter. Nor is it some type of elitism that I am attempting to advocate.

It's about us cultivating a heightened awareness of spiritual matters and recognizing where the source lies and then addressing it. Nipping it in the bud as swiftly as possible, instead of allowing it to fester.

Until we truly get a grip on the fact that we do not fight against flesh and blood, the enemy will keep us wrapped tightly in a bubble, rendering us ineffective when it comes to what spiritual warfare is really about. Destroying the works of the devil is our mandate, but there are rules of engagement.

The one who practices sin [separating himself from God, and offending Him by acts of disobedience, indifference, or rebellion] is of the devil [and takes his inner character and moral values from him, not God]; for the devil has sinned and violated God’s law from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.  1 John 3:8

The key word in my opinion in the above verse is “appeared”. Jesus descended from heaven and appeared on the scene resulting in the devil no longer being able to run amuck.

I am of the belief that as sons of God possessing the mind of Christ and having been made in His likeness, when we appear on the scene where there is darkness the very light of Christ is present.

We can then, in His name exert all authority over every evil work and establish kingdom domain.

If we do not follow the “owner’s manual”, let’s not rule out to quickly the possibility that we could lose our lives in the process. The enemy plays for keeps!

As a young believer I admit and repent for the number of times that I tolerated this type of activity but as I have matured, I vowed to no longer tolerate it. It is my duty to destroy the works of the devil throughout the entirety of my time here on earth.

By the way, it isn’t necessary to shout or scream at a devil to make them submit. The name of Jesus whispered; alone contains all the power we will ever need to defeat the enemy.

 Luke 10:19 Amplified Bible (AMP)¹⁹ Listen carefully: I have given you authority [that you now possess] to tread on ^[a]serpents and scorpions, and [the ability to exercise authority] over all the power of the enemy (Satan); and nothing will [in any way] harm you.