How to Foil the Enemy's Taunts
Once, when I was a youth pastor, I remember teaching a particular Sunday School class. After awhile, one young man began to ask questions fast and furiously. Since the issues were related to the material I was teaching, I took a few moments to address his concerns. Soon, I found that young fellow had different motives for his questions. He never let me share my thoughts on one question before he leaped to another. Whatever his reasons were, the barrage of questions stopped the class from moving ahead.
That experience was the devil using him to taunt me as I taught the class. It caught me off guard at the time, but I learned that I need to be aware of the startegies that the enemy uses against me so that I can foil them.
The enemy loves to use taunting strategies against intercessors as we wait on God. The devil will try to confuse and confound you when God asks you to wait, instead of answering your request immediately.
I'd like to explore four basic errors the enemy uses to hinder our progress, and then give you strategies to overcome them. Here are the four errors that the enemy will try to get you to believe in order to foil your prayer life:
- Why ask God for something that He already knows I need?
- Prayer is not meant to be answered.
- God won't answer my prayers if there is sin in my life.
- God has put me on the shelf and forgotten me.
(We are going to talk about the first two in this lesson and then talk about the other two in the next lesson.)
Error #1
One question that may plague your prayer time is, "Why ask God for something He already knows that I need?"
Doesn't God know my needs without my asking? Yes, God is all-knowing. The fancy word for that is omniscient. And God does know our needs before we ask Him. If the preceding is true, then why doesn't God take care of my needs without my asking? That's an unbiblical idea, as we shall explore.
First, God provides a general grace that nurtures His entire creation. That provision is available to all humanity: "For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45b).
Second, Jesus teaches that the general grace extends to every living thing:
"Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they...And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field...will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?'" (Matthew 6:26-31).
Third, Jesus' words reveal that, while God does take credit for feeding the birds, worms do not grow on trees. Nor does God toss worms into birds' nests. The birds are responsible for getting the food to their own mouths. Otherwise, the sparrows would get too fat, and they couldn't fly. In the same fashion, while God provides for us, we are responsible for using prayer (and sometimes our labor) to draw His provision into our lives. James spoke of this matter: "...You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask" (John 4:2b).
Therefore, it is important to ask God for specific prayer request(s). As we have seen before, our Lord does that so we learn to depend on Him. If our Father supplied all our needs without asking, then we wouldn't have the need to press into Him. And our relationship with God is our greatest need.
Error #2
Another error the enemy dishes out to stop us from waiting on God is "Prayer is not meant to be answered."
Many religious people don't believe that God answers our petitions. They view prayer in a positive light, even if their definition isn't biblical. Some alternate explanations for prayer include, "therapy for those who can't afford a therapist," "help to accept the trials of life," or "making contact with your higher power." Skeptics view prayer in a neutral to negative manner. Some natural descriptions of prayer are: "wishful thinking," "a means to avoid taking responsibility for one's life," "an escape from reality," "an unsophisticated person's way of dealing with the unknown," "pious hocus-pocus," "a religious opiate," or "a sign of a mental illness, since both include talking to oneself."
In contrast to the preceding views, I believe that God answers prayer. That's what the Bible says in passages like: "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples" (John 15:7-8).
Although other benefits of prayer exist--fellowship with God, feeling God lift our burdens, etc.--its primary purpose is to receive answers to requests posed to our heavenly Father.
God also grants petitions to confirm His covenants. The Lord wants us to know about His character through His generosity towards us. He wants us to know that we can trust Him to do what He says. Our Father wants to change the toxic definition of faithfulness that we may have learned in childhood when a caregiver--usually a father--was either too impaired or too wounded to deliver on what they promised.
Next, answered prayer sets the pace of your prayer life. Often, our first experiences shape what we expect from later encounters. If a young boy goes on his first fishing trip to a pond where there are no fish, what does he conclude? He figures catching a fish is hard to do. If the same boy makes his first outing to a frequently stocked pond, he's more likely to hook a fish. His conclusion: catching a fish is easy.
As we make our first requests to God, He answers us, so there is no mistake about what is the purpose of prayer.
In addition, answered prayer becomes the foundation for our intercession. Granted petitions represent grounds that have been taken back from the enemy. We war on behalf of others based upon the confidence and faith we've gained from our own personal victories. Once you've triumphed in prayer for yourself, it's easier to believe that God will do the same for someone else. After all, how can you chauffeur someone else, if you've never learned how to drive yourself?
Lies The Devil Tells Us To Destroy Our Faith
As we wait on God to answer our requests, the devil will try to confuse and confound us. The enemy will use four basic errors (e.g., wrong thinking patterns) against us to hinder our progress, to discourage and demoralize us. They are:
- Why ask God for something that He already knows I need?
- Prayer is not meant to be answered.
- God won't answer my prayers if there is sin in my life.
- God has put me on the shelf and forgotten me.
(We already talked about the first two in our last lesson, so we will look at the remaining two in this lesson.)
Error #3
A third error used by the devil to stop us from praying is, "God won't answer my prayers if there is sin in my life."
Let's test the prepositions of that statement.
First, can one attain sinlessness in this life? That's a key premise to the argument. What does the Bible say? John states: "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8).
Therefore, if we must be sin-free for God to answer your prayers, all requests would go unanswered. The Bible teaches that we are "freed from sin," not "free of sin." God continually prunes sin from our lives, but like weeds, they keep cropping up. The process isn't completed until we reach heaven.
Second, if it's impossible to be without sin in this life, what about verses like: "Behold, the Lord's hand is not so short that it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God. And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear" (Isaiah 59:1-2).
It's important to carefully examine this passage. Notice, that the passage is found in the Old Testament, not the New Testament. The declaration was made prior to the cross. It is not referred to in the New Testament. Old Testament offerings covered sin. The sacrifices needed to be presented continuously. Old Testament believers pled their case based upon the temporary benefits of an animal sacrifice. After the cross, Jesus' offering cleansed sin. He was the final offering. We plead our case based upon the permanent benefits of His sacrifice.
We pray based upon Jesus' righteousness, not our own. Jesus is our immortal High Priest, not a mortal descendant of Aaron. That's not an invitation to sin. Most Christians don't need such an invitation. God has ways of drawing us back to Himself when we stray (Hebrews 12:5-7).
Third, if we had to be sin-free for God to fulfill our requests, then why does God answer the sinner's prayer? Why did the Father in the prodigal son story take His child back? In both instances, there is evidence of sin in the lives of the petitioners. If God hears the prayers of sinners before they're saved, why would He be unwilling to listen to sinners after they're saved?
Another of Satan's lies is: "Could it be that you did something that's disqualified yourself from crossing the Jordan River like Moses?" (E.g., did you do something to disqualify yourself from possessing the full measure of God's promises for you in this lifetime?)
It is difficult for the average believer to commit a disqualifying act in the same league as the one that kept Moses out of the Promised Land. Moses had a face-to-face relationship with God that few have experienced. A couple of verses hint at the clarity that occurred between the two:
"Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent" (Exodus 33:11). "...'Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, shall make Myself known to him in a vision I shall speak with him in a dream. Not so, with My servant Moses. He is faithful in all My household; with him I speak mouth to mouth, even openly, and not in dark sayings, and he beholds the form of the Lord...'" (Numbers 12:6-8a).
I know one person among my immediate friends who has that depth of intimacy with the Lord. I'm not there. If God clearly told that person to do something, and they didn't do it, there might be grounds for considering that disobedience. God would have to decide whether that was a disqualifying act. While I can claim ignorance or confusion over what I thought I heard, my friend can't. The greater your accuracy in hearing God, the more accountable you are to obey Him.
God's will on some subjects is quite plain. Repeatedly, God says we should forgive others. Ignorance is not an excuse when the Lord clearly expressed Himself on a matter. However, if God is prompting me to get off the commuter train at a different stop than I normally do, and I miss it because of an exhausting day, He sees my lack of action differently. Perhaps, He'll decide to put the "training wheels" back on my prophetic bike.
Now, with all the preceding said, how can you move this knowledge from your head to your heart? Ask God to reveal the truth to your spirit. Wounds from your past may prevent the truth from reaching your spirit, touching your heart, and infusing your emotions. If so, God may prompt you to do some inner healing, as a prelude to your receiving the revelation of His love.
Error #4
A fourth error used by Satan to stop our waiting on God is, "God has put you on the shelf and forgotten you." There are variations that the enemy uses. These may include: "Life is passing you by..." "God plays favorites..." or "You're not important enough for God to pay attention..." The enemy uses this series of lies to cover up a truth.
God hasn't forgotten you on a shelf. He's hidden you away in a secret place: "You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man; You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues" (Psalms 31:20).
What's it like to remain hidden in God's pocket? When I got a cell phone with a camera recently, it was quite the novelty. I could take photos everywhere. As I reviewed the pictures, I noticed many where all black. I didn't remember shooting in the darkness. My son told me the pictures were taken while my cell phone was inside my pocket. The little button on the phone's side that activated the camera feature kept getting bumped as I moved.
Many of us feel the darkness, and think God is far away. But, in actuality, like the camera in my pocket, we are quite close to Him. The darkness bothers us when others seem to be advancing with God. And at some point, we believe God told us to pursue the prayer request. We feel left out, laid off. The Kingdom of God rolls past us. By all appearances, we were left behind.
But we haven't been left behind. Far from it. As Psalms 31:20 says, God may hide us in His secret place to prevent the conspiracies, plans, and gossip of others from affecting us. God also uses His secret place to prepare us.
In conclusion, we must discern the source of thoughts that trouble us as we wait. Forewarned with knowledge of some of the devil's errors, we can avoid traps that might cause us to stop waiting on God.
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