Blood in the Water

In the story that God’s telling, this great epic story that has spanned eons, with it’s heroes and villains, battles won and lost and joys too many to describe along with as many sorrows that have filled countless hearts, one thing has stayed true so far, and that is that for those of us in the story, we have an enemy and he hates us with passion that possibly has never been matched except by the love of our Creator and Father.

The most interesting thing I have found in this story is that while the enemy is vile and does not play by the rules, he really isn’t after me. As a Christian, that is a bearer of Christ, I represent to the enemy the Savior who saved me, Jesus. The devil tried his best to destroy Jesus numerous times, and at each and every turn he was defeated. Culminating in his greatest defeat at the cross and resurrection of the Lord. Scripture states that had he known what was to happen, he would have never crucified the Lord of Glory. (1 Corinthians 2:8)

Since the devil was unable to destroy Jesus, and consequently through his actions actually helped to facilitate the one thing that had to be done in order for God to set things right with the human race. (Oh how that must gall him.) He changed his tactics and set upon those that bear the image of Jesus, his full out assault. Now as I write this, I realize that it may actually try to bring fear to the reader’s heart, but be of good cheer, this is information for us to celebrate. For you see, once you realize that the attacks are not at you personally, you can begin to walk in the ways that Jesus has wanted us to have walked all along.

In Luke chapter 8, Jesus is explaining to His disciples the meaning of the parable of the soils, in verse 11 & 12 we see this, “¹¹ “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. ¹² Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.” We are unable to acquire anything in the Kingdom of God if we first do not believe, then confess. (Romans 10:9-10) So the devil will come immediately according to Jesus’ words here in Luke, and take away our means of believing God and acquiring faith, which without we cannot please God. (Hebrews 11:6)

One of the most diabolical things that I have seen the enemy use against God’s children is their very own mouths. They will read in the Bible and see a promise of God, or hear a friend or minister talk about the goodness of God only to say the opposite of that is true in their life. With their own mouths they are digging up the seed, and without the seed of God’s Word in our heart we cannot believe. And if we cannot believe, then we cannot receive. It’s a legal situation, plain and simple.

God wants the best for us. He’s promised us all we need can be found in His Word, but He will not bring it to pass in our lives if we disregard the principle found in Romans 10:9-10; “⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Obviously this passage of Scripture is talking about how you get saved, but did you realize that this is also how you appropriate every promise of God as well? Let me show you what I mean concerning healing, “If you declare with your mouth, “By Jesus’ stripes I am healed, and believe in your heart that God will heal you from your disease, then you will be healed.” “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are healed.”

This is the principle by which we receive everything that God has for us in His Kingdom. Now, don’t get mad at me, I didn’t write it, God did. But see here is the thing, whose words are you believing, God’s or the devil’s? You see the opposite of faith is doubt. If you doubt, you are putting faith in the devil’s words over God’s. You are in effect saying, “God Your Word can’t be true, because of this or that reason.”

When we speak things other than what God’s Word says about us, we are what I like to imagine, putting blood in the water, and drawing the enemy to us. We see in Scripture that the devil is like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8) Now God used Peter to pen this phrase for a reason, and I believe if we will look to nature we find out what God was getting at. When lions hunt, they never go after the strongest or biggest animals. They look for the weakest and slowest ones. Why is that do you wonder? It’s because they are not stupid, the weakest and slowest ones are the easiest to catch, and the lions are not looking to prove anything, they’re just looking for lunch.

Just as the lions are attracted to weakness, so is the devil. Look at the story of Jesus going into the wilderness; when did the devil come and begin to interact with Jesus? It was after the forty days and Jesus was hungry, when He was at His physically weakest moment. That’s when the devil showed up, and he is certainly not looking forward to going up against a Christian who is speaking and believing God’s Word. This is not to say he won’t do it, but he’s not stupid either, he knows what the easiest prey is and therefore they make the easiest targets. So let’s watch what we are speaking out of our mouths, and do our best to make the words that we speak, faith filled words of belief in what God has for us in His Kingdom, and not help the devil to defeat us by saying what think or feel. After all it’s God’s Word in us, coming out of our mouths that make us a success in life.