Wooly Eyes

The life that lives in self-assuring pride is the life that will fall to the wiles of the enemy. What better way for satan to lure us into following him than to take what seems to be a good thing and lead us down a path to destruction? Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by satan, trying to get Him to use His position of power to fall away from the mission that He was on. Here is one of satan's moves when he came to Jesus after Jesus had fasted for 40 days and nights. Matthew 4:³ During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.” You may say, "What's wrong with Jesus getting nourishment from food He made to satisfy His hunger? Here is how Jesus answered in Matthew 4: ⁴ But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’

If anyone deserves to respond in pride, it would be the perfect Son of God, but Jesus based His answer on the Word of God, and by the way, scripture says, "Jesus is the Word of God!" John 1:In the beginning, the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He existed in the beginning with God. ³ God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. ⁴ The Word gave life to everything that was created. His identity as the Word of God was where Jesus received His answer to satan's schemes. The wool was NOT pulled over the eyes of my Jesus, and He, being the Word of God, applies to my answer to the schemes of the devil, so the wool is not pulled over my eyes either. Keep in mind that satan tried two more times from a different approach, and Jesus rejected him with the Word of God in both trials.

If you believe you are above reproach from an attack of the enemy, then you need to look deeper into the temptation that the enemy has planned for you. It will probably be an attack using your own self-assurance or pride to defeat you. I call this CONCRETE SIN. It is sin that has been cultivated over time in a person's faith walk, allowing their pride of life to establish a place in their heart. This concrete pride begins very innocently, but soon sits on the throne room of that person's judgment, and before long, they are poised to be defeated by the enemy, and it all began so innocently. Remember, I have no power apart from Jesus in my life, and I must humble myself under the power of the Holy Spirit to grow in my faith walk. Relying on myself is the first mistake of a person bound for concrete sin, because their pride causes them to think they have this whole Christian living thing under control, and that is when the enemy strikes and pulls the wool over their eyes. These people are "good" Christian folk who were "raised right" and always went to church, but their depth in the Word of God is shallow in the mysteries of God. They are ripe for the picking.

But there is a way to fight the enemy when he comes calling. Just like Jesus, we use the Word of God. Remember what Jesus had done for 40 days and nights before He was tempted? Jesus had been fasting from food, and He was hungry. Sadly, our fasting might be when we fast or deny ourselves the Word of God for a period of time, thinking we are all right. It might be a thought like "How can it hurt to miss my Bible Study today? It's just one day?" That concrete sin and self-reliance beast kicks in, and the enemy sprints to tempt us to take another step away from God. Here is how we handle this. We do what Jesus did. The Word of God is our answer. But if we have not been studying it or memorizing power verses, we will fall into the trap of satan, and we have no answer to his reasoning.

Step out of the concrete and be moldable by the Holy Spirit of God, and your answers to the enemy will be laced with the power of the Word of God. I cannot make it without the Word of God, and it is my mission to actually get the Word of God "back into the local church." Huh? I thought it was there? The preacher preaches the Word of God, and the teachers teach the Word of God, but what about the other six days, or 166 minutes left over? Those moments are for us to study and learn from our Heavenly Father, and we get to see the answers to the mysteries of life as provided by our Father. When satan comes knocking, we slam the door and lock it with the Word of God as our answer. Here is what Paul wrote the church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 10:¹² If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. ¹³ The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

God's way out of temptation for Jesus was the Word of God, so that is more than good enough for me. How bout you? Read it and live it and really LIVE!! Ask God to break up the concrete sin of pride and GET REAL. Please!! Our righteousness is filthy rags, but God's righteousness is real and powerful, and He has given it to all who receive Jesus. Here is the promise provided by God for us in the Word of God: 2 Corinthians 5:²¹ For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. Now get to know all about that righteousness and break the chains of the enemy that He tries to put you in. No more Wooly Eyes.

The Pilgrimage Continues,

David Warren