Session#4

Opposition

Recognizing the Enemy tactic

Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.

Hebrews 4:1

Understanding the Age-Old Battle

The Flesh versus the Spirit

Error #1

Finding the Solution within OurSelf

 

Example = Abraham/Ishmael (Flesh) vs. Abraham/Isaac (Spirit)

The angel of the LORD also said to her: "You are now with child, and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”

Genesis 16:11-12

Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?" And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!"

Genesis 17:17

 

Warning – Don’t take the pen and try and script out your life story. It is impossible for Self to produce anything of heavenly worth. Self cannot imitate God’s ability. We must not let Self hold a control position in our life, otherwise we will produce man-made fruit poisoning those around us, rather than Spirit-born fruit that imparts the living reality of Christ. Self’s solution ends up being a wild-donkey, while God’s solution is a startling demonstration of His glory.

Lesson to be Learned – We must recognize not only the inability of human Self effort to accomplish God’s purpose, but also comprehend the harm that Self effort brings when integrated into the work of the Divine. Fully yielding to God’s manner, His method, and His timing, brings about a heavenly result for which no man can possibly receive credit.

Spiritual Action Needed – Be still and know that He is God, and He is capable of performing all that He has promised to perform.

Error #2

Despising our Birthright

 

Example = Esau vs. Jacob

And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.

Genesis 25:20-34

Warning – Don’t ever be fooled into thinking that you are sufficient outside of God. If God says you need His inheritance, then trust Him, you need His inheritance. The wages of Self-Reliance are always death and spiritual poverty. Esau didn’t properly appraise the value of the Blessing of God. He thought he was fine just being of the lineage of Abraham. If we look to our own human ability to replace the ability of God in our life, we will fall short of the Promised Land and thus “despise our birthright.”

Lesson to be Learned – We must fear stopping short of the fullness of God. We must wrestle with God for His blessing. We must aggressively pursue the Inheritance of God. The reason Christ endured the Cross was not merely to forgive us and leave us slaves to sin yet acceptable for Heaven. He shed His blood and died so that we would be freed from the tyrannical rule of sin in our life (the control of Self over the soul) and thus be freed to be possessed by Him and become the temple of His Spirit Life. When Self is allowed to maintain its position and Christ is refused His triumphant entry into the soul to rule and possess, then we, in a sense, despise our birthright. Our inheritance is “Christ in us”, and we mustn’t ever sell that for a bowl of red stew that merely comforts the flesh.

Spiritual Action Needed – Surrender. Give up your control and Allow God His rightful place in your heart and soul. Let Him reprogram your life’s perspective, your life’s agenda, and your life’s activities. Allow Him to recalibrate your value system around what He deems most important. Let Him enter in as the Triumphant King of kings.

Error #3

Allowing Human Compassion to Lead

 

Example = Moses Pre-Wilderness vs. Moses Post-Wilderness

One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

Exodus 2:11-12

The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt." But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"

Exodus 3:7-11

In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months: And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian: For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not. And the next day he showed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another? But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? Wilt thou kill me, as thou did the Egyptian yesterday? Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons. And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the LORD came unto him, Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold. Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou stands is holy ground. I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt. This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. He brought them out, after that he had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years. This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spoke to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?

Acts 7:20-42

Warning – It is impossible on our own to accomplish God’s agenda. We may be capable and smart, we may be wealthy and strong, we may even be popular and have a knack for drawing a following, but God’s agenda is bigger than any human can shoulder. We may see the millions languishing in their sin, lost in their vice, but to save them by mere human willpower is not possible. We may see children begging on the streets, widows starving and alone, entire nations plundered by the wicked hand of a tyrant – But these are not our battles, they are God’s battles. And, yes, God certainly wants us to fight His battles, but first, He must make sure we are merely the yielded instrument of His powerful rescue strategy.

Lesson to be Learned – it is the broken man who is truly useful to God. The man with no confidence in Self’s ability is the man God can use. He must be wholly submitted, willing to appear the fool. He must be empowered by God to meet the needs of an enslaved world, to deliver God’s message, and bring about deliverance. We cannot overcome the Egyptian army, we cannot part the Red Sea. We must stop trying to be miniature gods, and allow God to be God in our life.

Spiritual Action Needed – Yieldedness. We must allow God to break us, empty us, refine us, and then rebuild us into useful vessels. We must allow Him to remove us from self-confidence and plant the confidence of heaven within our chests. We must learn to abide in His Life, default to Him as the solution in every situation, and find our entire satisfaction in allowing Him to be the deliverer of His people.

Error #4

Giving sway to the Flesh and Unbelief

 

Example = Israel dying in Wilderness vs. Israel Crossing the Jordan

But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Hebrews 3:19

Then, as the LORD our God commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites through all that vast and dreadful desert that you have seen, and so we reached Kadesh Barnea. Then I said to you, "You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us. See, the LORD your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the LORD, the God of your fathers, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." Then all of you came to me and said, "Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to." The idea seemed good to me; so I selected twelve of you, one man from each tribe. They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and explored it. Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported, "It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us." But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You grumbled in your tents and said, "The LORD hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. Where can we go? Our brothers have made us lose heart. They say, 'The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.' "Then I said to you, "Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert. There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place." In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God, 33 who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.

Deuteronomy 1:19:31

At that time I commanded Joshua: "You have seen with your own eyes all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings. The LORD will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going. Do not be afraid of them; the LORD your God himself will fight for you." At that time I pleaded with the LORD : "O Sovereign LORD, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do? Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that fine hill country and Lebanon." But because of you the LORD was angry with me and would not listen to me. "That is enough," the LORD said. "Do not speak to me anymore about this matter. Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan. But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see." So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.

Dueteronomy 3:23-29

Warning – Don’t stop short. When we reach Kadesh Barnea in our spiritual life, what will we choose? God says go forward, but our flesh screams that it is too great a risk to go against the Giants and the Walled Cities that reach to the skies. The Wilderness is miserable, but at least we can be safe and secure there. The Promised Land is lush with the riches of heaven, but it means awakening the wrath of our enemies. If we believe more in the strength of our foe than in the strength of our God we will end up rotting carcasses in the hot desert sun. The Flesh will always tell you to stop short, to look out for your personal interests over God’s in your life. It will cause you to doubt how truly capable your God really is. That is why it must be dealt a fatal blow.

Lesson to be Learned – whenever God nudges us to move forward, we must learn to take the next step immediately, without hesitation, and without regard to the plaintive cries of our flesh. We must allow God to move our lives in directions that seem ridiculous to the world about, that seem “too extreme” to even our church friends, and that even cause our hearts to tremble with the excitement and the thrill of the unknown. We reach Kadesh Barnea often in our Christian lives. When we arrive, let’s not listen to the 10 spies of our flesh, but the 2 spies of the Spirit of God that beckon us forward.

Spiritual Action Needed – Mortify the Deeds of the Flesh. Give no life to the allure, opinion, and power of the flesh. No longer consult the Fleshly spies. Turn a deaf ear on their pleas for wilderness living. Yield to the Spirit’s allure, opinion, and power. Choose your master wisely and rightly.

Error #5

Limiting the Flesh, but Allowing it to Remain Alive

 

Example = Saul vs. David

And the LORD hath done to him, as he spoke by me: for the LORD hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbor, even to David: Because thou obeyed not the voice of the LORD, nor executed his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the LORD done this thing unto thee this day. Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the LORD also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.

1 Samuel 28:17-19

 

After the death of Saul, David returned from defeating the Amalekites and stayed in Ziklag two days. On the third day a man arrived from Saul's camp, with his clothes torn and with dust on his head. Then he came to David, he fell to the ground to pay him honor. "Where have you come from?" David asked him. He answered, "I have escaped from the Israelite camp." "What happened?" David asked. "Tell me." He said, "The men fled from the battle. Many of them fell and died. And Saul and his son Jonathan are dead." Then David said to the young man who brought him the report, "How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?" "I happened to be on Mount Gilboa," the young man said, "and there was Saul, leaning on his spear, with the chariots and riders almost upon him. When he turned around and saw me, he called out to me, and I said, 'What can I do?' "He asked me, 'Who are you?' " 'An Amalekite,' I answered. "Then he said to me, 'Stand over me and kill me! I am in the throes of death, but I'm still alive.' "So I stood over him and killed him, because I knew that after he had fallen he could not survive. And I took the crown that was on his head and the band on his arm and have brought them here to my lord." Then David and all the men with him took hold of their clothes and tore them. They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the LORD and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. David said to the young man who brought him the report, "Where are you from?" "I am the son of an alien, an Amalekite," he answered. David asked him, "Why were you not afraid to lift your hand to destroy the LORD's anointed?" Then David called one of his men and said, "Go, strike him down!" So he struck him down, and he died. For David had said to him, "Your blood be on your own head. Your own mouth testified against you when you said, 'I killed the LORD's anointed.'"

2 Samuel 1:1-16

Warning – Don’t make a pact with the Amalekites. Don’t promise them safety in Israel. Do not keep them alive under the pretense of serving God better. Sure, you may be able to say into the microphone, “I just want to thank Jesus Christ!” But if you save the best of the Amalekite sheep and the best of the oxen by justifying it as an offering unto God, you are deceiving yourself. The flesh is kept alive only for one purpose and that is to build your personal kingdom, not Christ’s Kingdom. God hates Esau and Esau’s seed. He will fight against the Amalekites from generation to generation. If we don’t adopt God’s opinion of the flesh, and we don’t recognize the true threat that it is to the Spirit-Life, than we are at risk of sharing in the fate of Saul, who ultimately was killed by those he didn’t completely put to death.

Lesson to be Learned – God is not a servant to OUR agenda. He must become King over our life and we must submit to HIS agenda. We must ruthlessly remove everything that stands in the way of God’s rule over our body. We must rightly view the dangers of flesh and deal with them in the manner that God prescribes.

Spiritual Action Needed – A watchful soul. We must set guards at the door of our mind and upon the watchtowers of our heart. We must recognize that we are not at a time of spiritual peace, but at a time of spiritual war. The battle is within, and we must fight this battle by abiding in Christ.