The adversary’s
objectives are to steal and to kill and destroy. In
order to effectively do so he must disguise himself.
His method of operation, is to deceive. Unless he
deceives people, he will never be able to steal, kill,
or destroy. Three times in the church epistles God
commands us, “Be not deceived.” Therefore,
it must be available for us to walk in such a way
that our adversary is not effective in deceiving us.
We learned in Part IV of Living in God’s
Power that the five senses are not reliable. Our spiritual
senses are reliable, but our natural five senses are
not. II Corinthians 5:7 says we are to “walk
by faith, not by sight.” Sight is one of the
five senses and just may be put by metonymy for all
of them. It is important that we be careful, to not
be fooled by them.
It does not matter how the situation looks
in the senses realm. There is a spiritual realm, that
although unseen, supersedes the natural realm of the
five senses.
II Kings 6:8-10:
Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and
took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and
such a place shall be my camp. 9 And the man of God sent
unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou
pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are
come down. 10 And the king of Israel
sent to the place which the man of God told him and
warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor
twice.
This happened on a regular
basis. Elisha would receive information from God and
pass it on to the king. See how important one person
walking by the spirit can be?
II Kings 6:11:
Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore
troubled for this thing; and he called his servants,
and said unto them, Will ye not shew me which of us
is for the king of Israel?
Who is the turncoat?
Who is the traitor? Who is telling them all my plans?
Every time I set up an ambush, they find out what
is going on.
II Kings 6:12:
And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king:
but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth
the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in
thy bedchamber.
A bit of an exaggeration,
but the point is made. I guess the word got out. Naaman
must have shared something about Elisha with his people
back in Syria.
II Kings 6:13-17:
And he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send
and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold,
he is in Dothan. 14 Therefore sent he thither
horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came
by night, and compassed the city about. 15 And when the servant
of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth,
behold, an host compassed the city both with horses
and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas,
my master! how shall we do? 16 And he answered, Fear
not: for they that be with us are more than they that
be with them. 17 And Elisha prayed,
and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he
may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young
man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full
of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
When Elisha’s
servant saw the great host he became upset and fearful.
However, Elisha was not fooled by the five senses
and prayed for God to open his servant’s eyes.
When the Lord opened his servant’s eyes he saw
the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all
around Elisha. Instead of being outnumbered and surrounded,
he realized that those that were with him were more
than those who were against him.
If this was true for God’s servants in
the Old Testament, what do you think applies for God’s
sons in the New? I John 4:4 says, as God’s little
children, we have overcome our adversaries, the devil
and his evil spirit realm, because greater is he that
is in us, than he that is in the world. With Christ
in us the hope of glory, what do we have to be afraid
of.
The key is being diligent and not being deceived
by our five senses. Sure we can get startled and shaken
at times, but there is no reason to be afraid of the
sudden fear. There is no situation in which you may
find yourself, that you cannot handle. With God working
in us, what can man do unto us? God always makes a
way to escape and be victorious.
I Corinthians
10:13:
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is
common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer
you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will
with the temptation also make a way to escape, that
ye may be able to bear it.
I think one of the reasons
we lack and get into such trouble is because we do
not recognize temptation when it comes. When we do
not recognize temptation, then we do not look for
the way to escape. We just walk right into the trap.
We must get better at seeing how our adversary trips
us up and ensnares us.
We do not let situations fool us, and we do
not let people fool us either. The next account we
are going to look at is the anointing of David.
I Samuel 16:1-7:
And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou
mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning
over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will
send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided
me a king among his sons. 2 And Samuel said, How
can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the
LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am
come to sacrifice to the LORD. 3 And call Jesse to the
sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou shalt do:
and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto
thee. 4 And Samuel did that
which the LORD spake, and came to Bethlehem. And the
elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said,
Comest thou peaceably? 5 And he said, Peaceably:
I am come to sacrifice unto the LORD: sanctify yourselves,
and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified
Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. 6 And it came to pass,
when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and
said, Surely the LORD’S anointed is before him. 7 But the LORD said unto
Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height
of his stature; because I have refused him: for the
LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the
outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.
What a great principle,
we do not want to be fooled by the five senses, so
we cannot limit ourselves to the five senses. On the
outside people can seem to have it so together, but
God looks at the heart.
Why should we ever question our heart. God
chose us, and He knew what he was doing. He chose
us, and He knows what is in our heart. So, do not
let your heart condemn you. Walk in confidence with
God.
I Samuel 16:8-11:
Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before
Samuel. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen
this. 9 Then Jesse made Shammah
to pass by. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen
this. 10 Again, Jesse made seven
of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said
unto Jesse, The LORD hath not chosen these. 11 And Samuel said unto
Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There
remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth
the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch
him: for we will not sit down till he come hither.
Samuel said, “Hurry
up, we are going to wait for him!” I think there
is an important principle here. We cannot afford to
assume that our young people do not want anything
to do with spiritual matters. If anything, we should
assume just the opposite. They do want to know and
be involved.
I Samuel 16:12,13:
And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy,
and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly
to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him:
for this is he. 13 Then Samuel took the
horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his
brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David
from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went
to Ramah.
By his five senses Samuel
may have been fooled, but he walked with God and was
not. God does not look on the outward appearance.
How often do we? One of the great benefits of walking
by the spirit is that we get to the people who want
God’s help without respect of persons and without
being fooled by the five senses. I wonder how many
of us would have not considered that God would have
called an Amos or a Paul, a pig herder or a murderer?
We need to see people like God sees them, and we need
to look beyond what is before our five senses.
We are not deceived by our five senses. Situations
do not deceive us. People do not deceive us, and neither
do the words people speak deceive us. Paul was not
tricked by the words of the soothsayer in Acts 16.
Acts 16:16-18:
And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain
damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us,
which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: 17 The same followed Paul
and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants
of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of
salvation. 18 And this did she many
days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to
the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ
to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
She said all the right
things, but Paul was not fooled. He knew it was not
genuine. He knew that there was a spiritual problem
there, and he took care of it. He was not fooled by
the five senses.
Ahijah the prophet was blind and did not have
all five senses, but he saw perfectly well with his
spiritual senses.
I Kings 14:1-7a,17,18:
At that time [after Jeroboam refused to turn from
his evil way.] Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick. 2 And Jeroboam said to
his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself,
that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam;
and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the
prophet, which told me that I should be king over
this people. 3 And take with thee ten
loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go
to him: he shall tell thee what shall become of the
child. 4 And Jeroboam’s
wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came
to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see;
for his eyes were set by reason of his age. 5 And the LORD said unto
Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask
a thing of thee for her son; for he is sick: thus
and thus shalt thou say unto her: for it shall be,
when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself to
be another woman. 6 And it was so, when
Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in
at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam;
why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am
sent to thee with heavy tidings. 7A Go, tell Jeroboam…. 17 And Jeroboam’s
wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: and
when she came to the threshold of the door, the child
died; 18 And they buried him;
and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word
of the LORD, which he spake by the hand of his servant
Ahijah the prophet.
Ahijah, the prophet,
was not fooled. Even though he could not see and this
lady tried to disguise herself, God told him what
he needed to know. He declared God’s Word and
was not fooled by the five senses.
When we walk by the spirit
we will not be deceived by the five senses. We can
rely on whatever God tells us. His Word is trustworthy
as it is written and as it comes by revelation. Be
not deceived about it.
