| (Copyright 2023) by Zac Poonen (Bangalore, India) |
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| One of Satan’s chief weapons is “fear“. He uses it constantly. When believers try to frighten others or threaten others, they are (albeit unconsciously) in fellowship with Satan, because they are using a weapon from Satan’s armory. “God does not give us the spirit of fear” (2Tim.1:7). Fear is always a weapon of Satan. So, we should not be afraid of the threats and intimidatory tactics that men use against us. Such men are all agents of Satan, even if they call themselves “believers”. This is a lesson for us to learn for our whole life. “Holy Spirit wants to make us so sensitive as to what pleases the Lord, that at any junction, where we hear many voices, we will know which is the path that glorifies God.” We should not even preach in such a way as to “frighten” people. There is a difference between warning people about hell and trying to frighten them. Jesus never tried to frighten anyone. We also must never be intimidated by preachers who try to bring us under guilt and condemnation by quoting various verses. Preachers threaten believers with God’s judgment if they leave their church or if they do not pay their tithes to them, etc. These are all Satan’s tactics. It is important to be “quick of scent in the fear of the Lord” (Isaiah 11:3 literal rendering). Like a police-dog can pick up the scent of a criminal, even at a junction of many roads, the Holy Spirit wants to make us so sensitive as to what pleases the Lord, that at any junction, where we hear many voices, we will know which is the path that glorifies God. May you all become quick of scent in this area. You are living in an evil land with sin and corruption all around. Keep yourselves pure. Another of Satan’s primary weapons is discouragement. Discouragement is always from Satan – yes, always – and never from God. So, do not ever let anything discourage you – nothing physical, material, academic or spiritual or whatever. Satan’s purpose is to lead you into sin by getting you discouraged first. Loneliness and homesickness can also become sources of discouragement – if you are not careful. You must battle them and overcome. God will give you grace. May the Lord warn you in advance of dangers that He sees ahead of you, that you cannot see, and of factors that you have not considered. May the Lord give you wisdom and protect you. God has promised wisdom to those who ask Him in faith (James 1:5). You will not get it if you do not ask or if you ask but do not believe that God will definitely give you the wisdom you need. Remember however that God’s aim is not to help you to make more money but to make you more like Christ. Whatever earthly prosperity God sees fit to give you, He will give you. But that won’t be primary – because the task of accumulating money has been given by God to worldly people – and not to us (See Eccl.2:26b). —————————————————————————————————- See Zac Poonens other articles at: Poonen, Zac – Church of God, Bismarck (church-of-god-bismarck.org) Reprinted with permission from: Christian Fellowship Church https://www.cfcindia.com/ —————————————————————————————————- |
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