Anatomy of a Device and a Rescue

I awoke this AM with this conversation going on in my mind, "She NEVER calls me back!,  I heard myself say with an exasperated, bitter tone. "WHOA"! I shouted, "Hold on a minute. First off, that is NOT true. Secondly, that is not how I choose to feel. I do not choose to think that way about her or anybody else! I bring those bitter thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ."

Then the Holy Spirit gave me this, "I desire My people to refuse those kinds of thoughts, but, sadly, many of my people refuse to be comforted."  SELAH (stop and think about that).

He went on to say, "I sent My Holy Spirit to comfort my people,... to help them. The Holy Spirit is there to help you succeed, to help you overcome, to give you Hope and a future; to teach you to choose wisely - to choose life, but you must do the choosing. 'Choose you this day WHOM you will serve.' [Jos 24:15] "

Will it be bitterness?  Will it be fear?  Will you be Self serving?  (and Self "anything" - self indulgence, self consciousness, self righteousness, self pity, self gratification, self hatred).  All of these always leads to your enemy's camp - puts you in his clutches because self IS the old man.  Self is the carnal nature.  Romans 8 tells us the mind set on flesh is hostile - it is the fruit of that dark kingdom.

Self is the Sin nature you were born with; but, you have been "born again", "born from above".  That means you have been given Christ's nature.  You have been given His Spirit which is the epitome of NOT SELFish.  Will you choose to let Him live and dwell and rule OR will you choose to live under the rule of fear or bitterness or selfishness?

You are choosing moment-by-moment WHO will rule over you.  Christ's kingdom or the kingdom of darkness.  There are only two kingdoms. Life in one is very different from life under the other. Life is all about choices. Good life is all about informed choices. Each one of us has an adversary (and it isn't the person who just sprang to mind).  This adversary is NOT a human. Your adversary is a spirit being that is opposed to your well being. So, if you would like to be well and if you would like to enjoy life, you have to make some informed choices.

Let's talk about informed choices. Informed means we are given information with which to make a decision.  But, look at the word in formed. Many of us get our information from outside sources: TV, news, book, internet, Bible, people, etc. That is good , but BEST is to get your information from the Spirit of the living God. The Holy Spirit who resides in you.

IN YOU!

Let Him f-o-r-m your attitude from INside you.  Let Him IN-form you.  He will say, "This is THE way, walk ye in it."  He says, "For as high as the heavens are above the earth so are my thought not your thoughts." [Isa. 55:8]  "For as the heaven are high above the earth, so GREAT is His mercy toward those who reverence Him." [Ps. 103:11]

Recognize that His thoughts are mercy-full.  The template to know whether or not the thoughts coming to you are His thoughts is...is it LOVE?

God IS love.

His thoughts are thoughts of love.  His actions are actions of love.  Jesus Christ going to the cross was the ultimate act of love.

Just because a thought shows up in your mind, doesn't not mean it is from God or from you.  You have an adversary who introduces his thoughts into your mind in an attempt to get you to adopt them as your own.  This is where you apply the template of love.

Is it love?

 Know the nature of your adversary is to accuse, criticize, find fault, blame, be offensive, etc. The thought I woke up with was a device of the enemy to get me to think like him, feel like him, adopt his attitudes and disposition and speak like him.

All in an attempt to conform me to his image and carry out his BAD will.  The enemy's attempt to take me captive by the device of offense was thwarted by the Holy Spirit's rescue of bringing every thought captive to Jesus' obedience using the template of His love for me and for that woman.

Instead of being taken captive by those thoughts, I took took the thoughts captive. I applied the template of God's love and employed His way of escape. Instead of yielding to that device of the enemy and yielding to all the darkness. Instead I yielded to the Holy Spirit who IS the spirit of love and experienced the benefits of God's good kingdom.

Every device from your enemy has an escape provided by your Savior.  Your Savior ALWAYS provides the escape. Your Savior ALWAYS provides the victory!

Counterwise - you'll need it to love life!

 In our Bible study yesterday, Liz Sutter taught us insightful truths that instantly changes the way you look at life.  Understanding the breakdown of the verse noted below RADICALLY alters how you choose to respond to certain thoughts and interactions with those around you.

This is a thorough study. I encourage you to take the time to read to the end. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand and comprehend and APPLY what is being taught.  Are you ready?!?

1 Peter 3:10

“Do not rendering evil for evil or insult with insult, but with blessing because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.  For whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.“

STUDY

The word “rendering” in the Greek is very insightful. It has many meanings including:

 Yielding: to give away for one’s own profit what is one’s own (allowing our rightful inheritance to be snatched from us) to give up, to give over,  to give away, to give myself up, to grant or to permit, to give to one asking, to bring forth, to cause to come forth, to pay wages, to relinquish what is one’s own. 

INSIGHT

We have the blessings of Christ, until we relinquish them.  The idea here is that when evil comes “asking”, as it were, do we give ourselves up to it?  At that point of agreement, we are calling that evil to come forth in our lives, because we have granted the permission however subtly within our thoughts.

STUDY

The roots of the word render indicate a state of separation, a place of distance, where we offer, or give one something, let have, a place where we supply, furnish or commit to someone.

The Greek picture is giving a vineyard (to the devil) to be cultivated.

INSIGHT

As we agree with the evil that comes to us we are, in essence, allowing Satan to cultivate/plant his garden of thoughts, cares, and concerns in us.  We are then banding together and abiding with the evil that we opened the door to.

 The Greek further speaks that when we give over to someone, we follow them as a leader or master.  It says that we commit a thing to one, deliver it into ones power

When we then yield our members to Satan’s device, he then is mastering us. It further says to give someone to care for his interests, to give something to eat, to give food to. We have delivered our authority to Satan.

Satan is causing his cares then to become ours because we have offered him something to feast/to eat upon and to use against us.

The final Greek picture is this: “I have set before thee a door opened”. The rendering of evil is when a thought comes to us that is not in agreement with the blessings of the finished work(deliverance, peace, prosperity, health, the wholeness Christ has for us) then we are presented with a decision. If we walk through the door, by giving it permission to come, we have set the stage for death to reign in our lives.  We have given over our authority into the hands of Satan to use to cultivate his own garden in our hearts, renewing our minds to his will and plan, thoughts, and behaviors. 

Are we allowing death to reign in our lives by consenting to the evil that comes to us?

We are to resist this, not permit it or allow it by overcoming it with blessing.  Where it starts is in our thoughts. When we yield to the evil (things as they ought not to be) Satan has permission to rob us of our rightful inheritance, our rightful blessings! WOW!!!

STUDY

Let’s move on to the next words as they are powerful insights to us.

Evil. Here is used the widest sense.

Meaning that which injures, to do harm to ones self, wrongful thoughts in mode of thinking, feeling, acting; desire to injure; ill will, not such as it ought to be.

The Greek here is saying that evil is in reality, not such as it ought to be.  What ought to be are the blessing of Christ flowing in our lives; what ought to be is our faith picture being our reality.

Insult

Meaning abuse, railing, reviling, slander, reproach, to say harsh things/verbal assaults, to spew bitter statements, mean spirited, demoralize words.  The Greek indicates here when we return the insult we then become the reviler, the abuser. We simply are surrendering at the point to the one who is mastering our members.

But

Moreover, now, rather, on the other hand, given after negative sentences, moving to something new, opposed to what goes before.

On the contrary (other versions says counterwise)

The Greek word here means “to set against” to be opposed, opposite, contrary in principle and in practice, hostile, antagonistic.in feeling and acts.  The picture given is to be against as when “he (Moses) stood before Pharaoh”.

Another meaning is to serve as a transition (but) to something new; the ship which stood ready to carry them over.

We know Pharaoh as a type of Satan, we are to resist and overcome.

INSIGHT

When we are confronted with evil, we are to set ourselves against it. This word counterwise refers to a ship ready (the spirit is ready and willing) to carry us over (to bring us the victory over our enemies)!!!!! Jesus is ready to carry us into His victory, that we overcome Pharaoh/Satan by entering His victory. His finished work.

As we dig deeper into contrary, the roots of the word give a mode of acting, a state, condition, or place referring the reader to Matt 21:21 where Jesus took his authority and cursed the fig tree, and told the mountain to go into the sea. He acted contrary to the evil (when things ought not to be so) that he saw. So I believe this is speaking to us to be in a place of faith speaking to our enemy with authority and believing that we already have the victory.

STUDY

Blessing

To speak well of/ invoke blessing, praise, give thanks, pray  of blessing, to cause to prosper, to make happy, bestow blessings on,  to do one good, the blessings of the Messiah promised to Abraham,  acting well/rightly.

Also, the roots of the word refer to speaking or saying good, commanding, decreeing, mandating with our words good, through prayer, speaking words containing true life and imparting them to men, used in reference to discourse.  Discourse in that a kind or style of speaking which brings life - the sayings of God; His promises, words, counsels, commands. Thinking, meditating, reasoning, calculating on good things, the idea of bringing things to closure and to rest.

Blessing involves “God calling things that are not, as though they were” Not being (as they ought) to being (as they ought) Rom 4.

Called

Used of Christ calling persons to be his disciples, to cause to pass from one state into another, called to participate in, and enjoy the blessings of the heavenly kingdom, to embrace to offer of salvation by the Messiah, to appoint one to salvation,

Implies a suggestion of duties /assignment to a post.

“That blessing you should inherit”.

Same as prior – but that we were called to receive praise, laudation, blessing of Christ, of God.

Inherit

Acquire, obtain, used in reference to believers claiming their earthly inheritance assigned by the Lord, to become a partaker, used to denote the tranquil and stable possession of the land crowned with all divine blessings under the Messiah, possessions by the right of sonship in Christ, to receive the blessings of Gods kingdom promised to Abraham by the favor of Christ

INSIGHT

It is important to note that we do not bless in order to inherit a blessing, but we bless because blessing is our portion, our inheritance. 

We have the blessings of wholeness through the finished work.

Our true identity is in Christ, our identity is not of our fleshly nature. As we agree with these blessings of Christ (even thou we may not see them) through faith and by His grace, we are claiming them for our lives.  Faith always says, “I have it!”, even when we don’t. At creation when darkness was hovering over the earth, God did not say “Oh its dark”, he did not acknowledge the dark.  He simply spoke “Light be”.

I see this principle: He didn’t permit the darkness!  He stood against it with blessing (commanding the word of God - calling things that are not as though they were).  

We are made in the image of God, and when God spoke, he saw.  It was His pattern - speaking and then seeing the manifestation.  When evil comes knocking, we are to think/speak His blessing, for it is the ship that carries us over - over our enemies that seek our demise.

As this thought pattern leads us into the next verse, it is showing us how to see good days!! Who does not want to see good days? Jesus wants us to see good days! Let’s agree with Him that we have good days!!!

1 Pet 3:10b

“For whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.“

STUDY

Love

To take pleasure in, Christ living his life through the believer, choosing God’s choices, embracing His will and obeying through His power, steadfast love, cleaving, grateful recognition of benefits received.

Life

Active and vigorous devoted to God, and blessed, to denote a happy life and every kind of blessings,

A life breaking forth from the abode of the dead, a tree whose fruit gives and maintains eternal life

Good

Outward and inward good things, the benefits of the Messianic kingdom, a peaceful conscience, such as one ought to be, wholesome,  affecting the mind agreeable-comforting and confirming what is spoken of the divine promises, and the gospel and its promises full of consolation.  Useful/beneficial, peaceful conscious, makes reference to a covenant

Refrain

Cease, quit, come to an end.

Hebrew ~ keep from (Psm 34:13)

Watch guard, look at, consider, examine.

Tongue

Used of flowing speech, projecting point.

Evil

Of speaking  evil in the widest sense, speaking of not such as it ought to be.

Lips

Banks of rivers, seashore, a pouring place of water, and opening, gulf/door.

To speak

Say, to express the souls thoughts.

Deceit

Bait, bait to allure, hook people, to snare, advertising the bait, concealing the hook, trickery.

INSIGHT

In order to keep the tongue, we must go back to the heart.  When the heart is full of God, its abundance will flow in godly speech.  Godly speech is filled with faith agreeing with all His covenant blessings, even if we do not see them, faith says we believe and then we shall see them.  We set our heart to live by things we cannot see and cannot yet feel.  The righteous are to live by faith and call things that are not as though they are. To call things that are not as they ought to be (definition of evil) as they ought to be (definition of good and the finished work coming to pass in our lives) Steadfastly blessing, thanking, praising , having a merry heart and loving all bringing about good days.

A little background is that verse in 1 Pet 3:10-12 is taken from Psm. 34.  In this Psalm, David has escaped from the King Ahimelech by pretending to be crazy because he was afraid he would be killed.  It was a very low point in his life.  He sought refuge in the cave Adullam. In that low point he turned his eyes on Jesus.  In fact Adullam  means “to turn aside”.   David turned aside from looking at himself and his trouble, focused on God and began to praise Him. He turned aside from the evil (things not as they ought to be) and crossed over by blessing (blessing, praising, etc.).

He was joined by 400 men who, in 1 Sam. 22, says these men sought out David and were distressed, discontent, and in debt. (the 3rd army). These men ran to David for refuge (a type of Christ). He began to teach them in this Psalm and he became their captain.  He taught them how to have good days.

David, here being a type of Christ, was a sought out by the poor and needy and by the end of his encouragement to these men, they became a mighty army accomplishing much victory over their Philistine enemies. The Bible says of these men after Adullum  (1 Chron 12), they were mighty men of valor, trained for war, who could handle shield (faith) and spear(word of God), and whose faces we like the faces of lions and they were as swift as gazelles on the mountains.  Also 1 Sam 23 unfolds their stories.

STUDY

Debt

Meaning, we were in debt - we owed a debt we could not pay, in word and deed we were marked with a multitude of transgressions, but also in that time means they had lost all of assets, and theirs was harsh punishment for debts unpaid.

Distress; anguish, narrow place, oppressed, pressed hard upon

Discontent; angry, bitter, vexed, enraged, provoked, grieved

INSIGHT

When we more fully understand what the Holy Spirit is showing us in 1 Pet; I believe we become like David’s mighty men - overcoming because of the finished work. Choose not to live like your enemy in countering evil for evil. Live like God, countering evil with blessing so you will love life and see good days!

Guest blog by Liz Sutter.