1 Kings 18:21 (AMP) "Elijah came near to all the people and said,
How long will you halt and limp between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him! But if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word."
Early on in my life, this verse jumped out at me and opened the way for me to rededicate my life to the Lord.
Recently, this verse has taken on a new and intensified meaning in my life. Our enemy is always trying to introduce "his opinions" to us. Of course, it's not that he offers his opinion so we can choose it - NO! His way of doing things is always deception. It is to "plant" a thought cloaked in the first person. The thought from that dark kingdom comes sounding like this...
"I am upset."
"I am hurt."
"I am overwhelmed."
"I am afraid."
"I am stupid, ugly, can't do anything right, depressed..."
Sound familiar? The enemy's strategy is to always make the thoughts from him look and sound like they are from us when in fact, they originate from that kingdom of darkness. Our enemy is always working toward making us double minded (having two opinions). The scriptures say the enemy "blinds the minds" of people and that a "double minded man is unable to receive" the good that the Lord is always sending.
The Lord is always sending good to us, but we are not always receiving His "goods". In fact, when we are "like-minded" with our enemy (I call it being blind minded) we are, most likely, receiving his "bads". Our enemy is always sending out his "bads" even when he disguises them to look good or camouflages them to look godly. Receiving anything from the enemy's kingdom ALWAYS results in harm to us.
Our enemy traffics in doubt, fear, hopelessness, depression, confusion, condemnation, criticizing, blame, self-pity, self-conscious, malice (ill will), apathy. These are the core of the enemy's being, his disposition, his nature and his behavior. When we are acting like this, we are acting like him because we are thinking like him. We have allowed his opinion to enter into our thinking - his negative opinion about that person or his faulty opinion about us or his malicious opinion of God.
His desire is to give you a second opinion so you will be double minded, unstable, limping through life, confused and unable to receive the good that God is ALWAYS sending to you. The Word tells us that our enemy is a liar and the truth is NOT in him, therefore, adopting our enemy's deceitful opinion is detrimental to us and will NEVER bring about a good result.
However, believing our Savior who IS the Truth, whose opinion is always right, positive, valuable WILL bring about that positive, valuable result that we so earnestly desire. The Lord's opinion is made known to us through His Word and by His Spirit. His opinion will always be testified by peace and will bring peace to us.
When we recognize the device of our enemy (negative-mind sets) we go right to the Word to shut down the double-mindedness the enemy is trying to introduce.
When the thought comes, "I am afraid" say instead,"NO - God did not give me a spirit of fear BUT He has given me the Spirit of Love, the Spirit of Power AND a sound mind."
When the thought comes,"I am overwhelmed, I'll never get through this!" say instead, "Thanks be to God who ALWAYS leads me in the triumph" (2 Cor 2:14) and "Thanks be to God who GIVES me the victory." (1 Cor 15:57).
When the thought comes, "I don't care!", that feeling of apathy is a direct "feed" from that kingdom of darkness. How do I know this? Our English word "apathy" comes from the Greek word "api theos" which literally means "unlike + God". God is love. God cares for you - so apathy (NOT caring) is not like Him. Apathy is "un"-like God. It is the OPPOSITE of His character and behavior. That is why the enemy wants you feeling overwhelmed, offended and weary so you just give up and say "I don't care anymore!". This second opinion is meant to trip you up, weigh you down, paralyze you in a cocoon of apathy. Say instead, "Jesus loves me. " "Jesus loves that person." "Jesus is touched with the feelings of what I'm going through." " I am casting ALL of my overwhelming cares upon Him BECAUSE He cares for me."
Christ is never apathetic toward you! His will is ALWAYS to benefit you, to profit you, to bless you, to save and rescue, heal and restore and calm you with His peace, but it is up to you to choose His opinion instead of the subtle lie of that second opinion coming straight from our enemy.
You are the chooser, you are the one who decides WHO you will listen to and believe. Christ's opinion will cause you to triumph and walk securely through life. Conversely, our enemy-supplied second opinion will cause you to limp through life.
So again the question is posed," How long will you limp between two opinions? Determine today to not accept any of the enemy's opinions, no matter how artfully they are decorated. Instead, choose to be single-minded with Christ your Savior!
