ISRAEL'S & OUR ENEMIES (Part 4) The spirit of the Hivites

The Spirit of the Hivites

 

The word Hivite ( or Gibeonite)  means: Dweller in a village or community and it is in the context of a worldly lifestyle. It also means: delusion or delight. It is the spirit of deception.

What does this spirit bring? It brings the complete opposite of what the word of God promises.

Jesus said ‘I have come that they may have life and have it to the full’. (John 10:10).

 

This spirit of delusion or delight brings the opposite of life; it will cause us to participate in those things that bring spiritual death.

 

The Hivite spirit deals with our association with the world

‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it. What then will a man gain if he wins the whole world and loses his soul?’ (Matt 16: 24-26). 

In other words what Jesus is saying is this; in this world there is something that appears to be good, it appears pleasant to the eye, it appears attractive because it stimulates the natural person. But to participate in that kind of life will bring spiritual death. Every one of us has a choice to fulfil those natural desires or we can put off or give up those things so that we can have true treasure and true life.

There is the story of how the Israelites were deceived after the two battles at Jericho and at Ai. The Hivites, who were living in Gibeon, sent a delegation to Joshua. They loaded donkeys with worn out sacks and old wineskins that were cracked and repaired. The men wore old clothes and worn out sandals. They had bread that was dried and mouldy and they deceived Joshua and the Israelites by telling them that they had come from a very distant country and they asked if they could make a treaty with them. ‘The leaders did not enquire of the Lord and they made a treaty of peace with the Hivites and ratified it by an oath’. By the time Israel found out that they had been deceived it was too late to do anything about it and later on these Hivites would become a destructive force and would cause Israel to suffer defeat. (Joshua chapter 9).

You need to understand that there are two types of wisdom. In the letter of James we are told that there is an earthly wisdom and there is a heavenly wisdom. The world’s wisdom causes contention, strife, and division and is devilish. Whereas the wisdom from above is pure and it brings peace and harmony. Everything that the world calls life the scriptures call death. What man says is wisdom God says is foolishness. (1 Cor 1:25).

When we start to make a comparison, there is a vast difference in what the world says and in what the word says.

If you look at the prodigal son, he left his father’s house, went to a distant country where he lived a life of debauchery and wild living. When he came to his senses and repented, what did his father say? This son of mine who was ‘dead’ is now ‘alive’. This spirit of delight and delusion is influencing multitudes of people. The world says ‘get a life, get out into the real world and live; you’re only young once get out and live it up.

 

We are told that ‘the rabble’ that had joined the people when they came out of Egypt caused all their problems. The ‘rabble’ were not satisfied with the manna. ‘Think of the fish we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the leeks, onions and garlic! Here we are wasting away, stripped of everything; there is nothing but manna for us to look at’. (Nos 11:4-6).

This spirit of the Hivite will entice us to look away from life and will try to present to us all the ‘good things’ of this world. Notice the words ‘stripped of everything’, that’s the delusion. Remember that Egypt speaks of the world and the Lord took them out. Jesus said that we were in the world but we didn’t belong to the world. The world is not your friend; the world is your enemy. And that world will try to entice you, and try to bind you, because if the world can gain an inroad into your life, you have then touched not life but you have touched death

‘The love of the Father cannot be in any man who loves the world, because nothing the world has to offer¾The sensual body¾the lustful eye¾pride in possessions¾

Could ever come from the Father but only from the world; and all that the world craves for is coming to an end; but anyone who does the will of God remains forever. (1 John 2:15-17).

 

God wants us to fulfil all those natural drives in a spirit of holiness, in righteousness and in purity; because if we try to fulfil those natural drives according to the ways of the world, then instead of giving us satisfaction, there will be a well of loneliness within. When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well he told her that she had had five husbands and that the one she was living with now was not hers. Why do you think that many people are going from partner to partner and trying to seek their fulfilment outside the purity of Christ? Moving from one relationship to another does not bring fulfilment; it only creates a vacuum within that never can be fulfilled. The more people get involved with this spirit of delusion and delight, the greater the need is, the greater the hunger, the greater the thirst for satisfaction and they end up carrying around a fire within that never can be quenched. Unless we deal with the Hivite spirit we will be touching death all the time instead of life.

‘Think of what Christ suffered in this life, and then arm yourself with the same resolution that he had: anyone who in this life has bodily suffering has broken with sin, because for the rest of his life on earth he is not ruled by human passions but only by the will of God. You spent long enough in the past living the sort of life that the pagans live, behaving indecently, giving way to your passions, drinking all the time, having wild parties and drunken orgies and degrading yourselves by following false gods’. (1 peter 4: 1-4).

 

The spirit of deception blinds us from the truth and it will offer to us a fruit that appears enticing to the eyes, as it offered the fruit to Eve. We are told that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light and that’s why we need to be on our guard against what may appear to be from the Lord, so as not to be led astray.

‘A man who hankers after ashes has a deluded heart and is led astray. He will never free his soul, or say “what I have in my hand is a lie”. (Is 44:20).

‘Don’t delude yourself into thinking that God can be cheated: where a man sows, there he reaps; If he sows in the field of self-indulgence he will get a harvest of corruption out of it; If he sows in the field of the spirit he will get from it a harvest of eternal life’. (Gal 6: 7-9).

 

 

ISRAEL'S & OUR ENEMIES (Part 3) The spirit of the Canaanites

 

The spirit of the Canaanites

The word Canaanite means: Trader or merchant. This is the spirit that tries to bring us low, by trade or traffic and it deals with our money

The nation of Israel had crossed over the river Jordan. They had just won a mighty victory at Jericho and a few days later they were about to suffer their first defeat, all because of this Canaanite spirit. They had come to the town of Ai and Joshua sent some spies to see what the place was like and the spies came back and said ‘There is no need for all the people to go up; let some two or three thousand men go and attack Ai. Spare the whole people such toil; the enemy are not many’. (Jos. 7:3-4).

The Israelites attacked the town and they literally had the living daylights beaten out of them; this caused ‘the people to lose heart and their courage melted away’. Joshua and the elders lay down before the Lord to seek his face and to enquire of him why this happened.

 

The Lord replied, ‘Israel has sinned; they have violated the covenant I ordained for them. Yes, they have taken what was under the ban, stolen and hidden it and put it into their baggage. That’s why the sons of Israel cannot stand up against their foes; why they have turned their backs on their enemies, because they have come under the ban themselves. I will be with you no longer unless you remove what is under the ban from among you’. (Jos. 7: 11-12).

Before the taking of Jericho they were told that everything had to be put aside for the Lord. They were told not to be covetous and take anything for themselves, because in doing so disaster would strike the whole camp. ‘All the silver and the gold, all the Things of bronze and things of iron are consecrated to the Lord and must be put into his treasury’. (Jos. 6:17-19).

 

The next morning Joshua told each tribe to sanctify itself before the Lord and as the clans and families of each tribe came forward, they finally came to a man called Achan. The test was ‘Give glory to God’, and Achan admitted that he had sinned. He got his eyes on the gold and the silver and a Babylonian robe. They searched his tent and found them there. Achan, his family, his tent, his possessions, his livestock and the articles that he had stolen, were all taken to the valley of Achor and there they were stoned to death. Achan had come under the influence of this trafficking trading Canaanite spirit and it got the better of him and he lost everything because he had succumbed to that temptation. Now there is nothing wrong with gold or silver, as long as you are not hanging onto that which belongs to God.

 

You see, there are things, which God has said that we are not to touch. And that is represented by the Babylonian robe or garment. That’s a representation of the world. You could put it like this, touch not; taste not and handle not. The world has nothing to offer us except pollution and defilement. There are things that God has said, that are rightfully his, and to withhold that which rightfully belongs to God becomes an accursed thing in our hands, instead of a blessing. One tenth of all our income God says belongs unto him. If we withhold that which rightfully belongs to him then that becomes a cursed thing in our hands.

 

There is the story of Gehazi the servant of Elisha. You will recall how great a ministry the prophet Elijah had and Elisha was his servant. Elisha received a ‘double portion’ of the anointing of the spirit that rested on Elijah and he performed twice as many miracles. Gehazi had the opportunity to become twice as great as his master Elisha but this spirit of the Canaanite caused him to lose everything.

 

There is the story of Naaman the army commander of the Syrians who had leprosy, came to Elisha seeking healing and the prophet who told him to go and bath seven times in the river Jordan. Naaman did as Elisha told him and he came out of the Jordan completely cleansed. Naaman tried to give Elisha a gift for his healing and the man of God refused the gift¾why? Because the gifts of God are without money.

You can’t buy your salvation, you can’t buy your healing, you can’t buy your righteousness, they are all gifts from God. So when Elisha is offered the gift, he refuses it.

 

Then Gehazi his servant said to himself, ‘my master has let this Syrian Naaman off too lightly, by not accepting what he offered. As Yahweh lives I will run after him and get something out of him’. So he set off in pursuit.¾Gehazi lied to Naaman and told him that Elisha had sent him because two other prophets had arrived and he needed money for them, so Naaman gave him two bags of gold and two bags of clothes which Gehazi took and hid in his house, then he went and presented himself to Elisha as if nothing had happened. (2 K 5:20-24).

‘Elisha said, ‘Gehazi, where have you been?’ ‘Your servant didn’t go anywhere’ he replied. ‘Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money, or to accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, male and female slaves? Naaman’s leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever’. Then Gehazi left his presence a leper as white as snow’. (2 K 5: 25-27).

The spirit of the Canaanite got hold of Gehazi and not only did he lose his ministry, he lost everything because he coveted after that which he should not have at that time. It was not the ‘right time’ for him to have that wealth. The Scriptures are quite clear about times for us to receive money and about times for us not to receive money. There are times to accept gifts and there are times not to accept gifts. You have to use the wisdom of God when receiving gifts and money for your ministry. If we try to make money outside the season of the Lord than we can end up as spiritual lepers.

 

In the midst of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church a great tragedy happens. It is the story of Ananias and Sapphira. They sold a piece of property and they promised to give the money that they received for it to the Lord. Ananias kept back part of the money and brought the rest and put it at the feet of the apostles. Peter said, ‘Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? ¾You have not lied to men but to God.’ When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died.¾Three hours later his wife came in not knowing what had happened to her husband and told the same story and she too died instantly and great fear seized the whole Church. (Acts 5:1-11).

The money was theirs to begin with and they could have done what they liked with it. Their problem was that they had made a promise to give the proceeds of the land to the Lord and then they went back on their promise. That’s where the judgement of God comes, when we promise to give something to the Lord and then withhold or lie about it. These people were greedy for profit and this trading spirit brought them low.

 

There is the story of Judas, and it’s an interesting story because we are told that he had a covetous nature and when the woman who washed the feet of Jesus with her tears, broke the alabaster jar of ointment, we are told that Judas and some of the disciples said that the jar could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor; and we are told that Judas wasn’t concerned about the poor for he held the bag. Later on we are told that he had a covetous nature and the enemy, this spirit of the Canaanite was able to whisper into that area of his covetousness and Judas succumbed to his weakness and he sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. When he realised what he had done, he was full of remorse and he went out and hanged himself. That’s the nature of this trading spirit, it is out to rob, and out to destroy and to cast us down by getting us to do the exact opposite of what Jesus told us to do. It wasn’t that the rich young man had wealth; the wealth had him. The real test is, do you have money or does money have you? There is nothing wrong with money; it is the ‘love’ of money that is the root of all kinds of evil. People who seek for selfish motives, profit; that seek for selfish motives, gain; those who think that ‘godliness is gain’, are only deceiving themselves. (1 Tim 6: 6-10).

 

In the middle ages the teaching arose that if you were a godly person you would have money. This was suppressed, so in order to follow their religious beliefs, the early fathers of this doctrine that godliness was profit and that you would be able to trade freely, emigrated to America. When those Pilgrim Fathers came over to America they did not start Churches, what they did was to set up ‘trading companies’ to practise what they believed. They believed that as a sign of your godliness you would profit financially. Unfortunately this ‘prosperity’ gospel is still being pushed around today, that if you have faith, then you are going to be financially prosperous. Now, that is fine ‘if’ God wants you to prosper that way. But the test of universal truth is that it must be accepted universally in every nation, to every people, to every creed and to every race. If you go around and talk about prosperity as it being taught today and go to Russia or go to China where, when you come to Christ you become a pauper and are left destitute. You talk to these people about prosperity and godliness being linked together and they will mock you and laugh in your face.  Because universal truth can only be preached universally. This type of teaching only brings people under condemnation. Do I believe in prosperity? Yes I do, but it must be in God’s time and if you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then what you possess is what God wants you to have. The Canaanite spirit wants you to believe that prosperity and godliness go hand in hand. Prosperity comes by an attitude of heart.

One of the darkest sins of England was reported in the China inland mission.

The business interest of these British trading companies had grown opium in India and they could not land this opium in England. So they turned to China with that opium and the Chinese Government refused to allow them to sell their opium in China. So these traders began to smuggle opium into China, but because of their financial ‘pull’ in England, these traders ‘moved’ Parliament to send the British navy to go and shell undefended cities of China and for twenty seven hours they shelled defenceless cities till finally the Chinese Government opened those ports up so that opium could be traded into China. Because of that trafficking, because of that Canaanite spirit, millions upon millions of Chinese became slaves to opium. What spirit do you think was behind the ‘Gulf war’, and all the other wars? It’s all because of finances. Think about all the destruction and the loss of lives, all because of this trading spirit.

 

You can see this spirit operating in the life of Lot the nephew of Abram. There came a time when their flocks had increased so much that the land could not support them while they stayed together. On top of that there was quarrelling between their herdsmen so they decided to separate. So Abram who was wise in the things of God, told Lot to choose for himself whatever land he wanted and that he would take whatever was left over. Now it takes a big person in God to be able to give someone else first preference. It’s got to take a big person in God to be able to make him or herself poor in order to make others rich. So Lot gets his greedy eyes on the lush land of the Jordan and set out towards the east and he settled near Sodom. When Lot chose this land he was judging according to the flesh because of his covetousness. If he had been in the spirit he would have seen the end result, the destruction of his own family and the destruction of that city. Paul says, ‘Never say or do anything except in the name of the Lord Jesus’, why? Because when we do things by ourselves the end results may have disastrous consequences for us. This is what James writes about. ‘What causes fights and quarrels among you¾because you covet after things’?

This is the influence of the Canaanite spirit. At this moment in time the world is going ‘claim’ mad, because it’s a quick way to make some money. The one thing that will make you ‘sociably’ acceptable is money. It doesn’t matter how you get it, as long as you have plenty of it the world will look up to you. Why do you think people go out on strike? They are rejecting the word of God that says ‘be content with what you have’. (1 Tim 6:9).

‘Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility always consider others to be better than yourself’. This is what Abraham the man of God did. If we have our hearts set on money and gain, we will have anguish and anxiety; if we set our hearts on the Lord we will have life and peace.

This spirit of the Canaanite is one of the tools in the arsenal of the Antichrist. We are told that ‘he also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no-one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name’. (Rev 13:16-17).

 This trading spirit has taken control of the banking systems of the world so that he can imitate God who said ‘would supply all our needs’ (Phil 4:19) and he wants everyone to be dependent upon him so that everyone would have to depend on him for their needs. Up until the mid 70’s we all got paid cash in an envelope; the majority of people never had a bank account. Now everyone has to have a bank account and operate under their system. Did you know that Jesus never handled money, and it’s interesting to note that Caesar head was on the coin and it belonged to him. Today the Queen’s head may be on coins or bank notes but they don’t belong to her.  But I’ve got news for you; all the wealth in the world is coming the way of the Church. That’s why this trading spirit is trying to hold on to it.   ‘The wealth of the wicked is being stored up for the just’. (Pro13:22).

 

‘We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it; but as long as we have food and clothing, let us be content with that’. (1 Tim 6:7-8).

 

ISRAEL'S & OUR ENEMIES (Part 2) The spirit of the Amorite

The spirit of the Amorites

The word Amorite means: to speak against; to be bitter; talkative; to provoke or to boast of self, and it deals with what we say with our mouths. The Scriptures give us many aspects of the influence of this spirit at work.

 

‘So from now on, there must be no more lies: You must speak the truth to one another¾ even if you are angry you must not sin¾ never let the sun set on your anger¾or else you will give the devil a foothold’. (Eph.4: 25-27).

 

God spoke ‘Let there be’, and it came into being. When God speaks something, he considers it to be already done. (Rm 4:17). The same applies to us whenever we speak.  ‘Do not let your own words bring guilt upon you, nor tell your angel afterwards it was unintentional!’ (Ecl.5: 6)

What you say with your mouth releases spiritual forces. Those forces will either be heavenly or satanic, working either for us or against us.

 

In the book of Numbers chapter 12, there is the story of Miriam and Aaron who spoke out against Moses because he had taken an Ethiopian as his wife. They murmured against Moses with their mouths. Even though they had a right to speak the truth, they only had a right to speak the truth in love. They spoke out in anger and there was envy and jealousy behind their actions. When we speak like that, then we bring ourselves in danger of God’s judgement. If you read the story, you will notice that Moses does not try to justify himself, at this point he had the Amorite spirit under control, but the Lord heard their words.  The anger of the Lord blazed out against them. The repercussions of their speaking against Moses are a warning for us (v.10-15). 1^st  the Lord departed; 2^nd  the Cloud departed; 3^rd Miriam was covered in leprosy and 4^th we are told that the Congregation stood still. What does that mean for us?

 

When people in the Church speak out of a wrong heart and attitude against the leadership in the Church, then the Lord leaves; he gets up and goes. His covering, that is, his hand of protection is removed from the congregation because of the presence of sin. Leprosy is symbolic of sin, and until the sin is repented of, there is no moving forward for that Church and if they are not moving forward, then they are not growing and they are not going anywhere.

 

On the other hand, when a congregation comes together and everyone is of the one mind and heart, then all things are possible for that Church. ‘Yahweh came down to see the town and the tower that the sons of man had built. ‘So they are all a single people with a single language!’¾ ‘There will be nothing too hard for them to do’. (Gen.11: 6-7) Nothing can stop man from doing what he wants to do providing he is speaking the same language.

 ‘They lifted up their voice to God all together¾As they prayed, the house where they were assembled rocked; they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to proclaim the word of God boldly’. (Acts.4: 24-32).  God says that nothing is impossible to us, when we speak the one language

‘All you need to say is “Yes” if you mean yes, “No” if you mean no; anything more than this comes from the evil one’. (Matt.5: 37)  “Yes/no”…Anything else is the Amorite spirit

 

The Amorite spirit prevented the Israelites from entering the Promised Land. They sent twelve spies to reconnoitre the land and they discovered that it indeed was a land where milk and honey flowed. But ten of the spies gave a bad report, they had taken their eyes off the bigness of their God and focused their eyes on the bigness of the enemies who were in the land; so much so, that they reduced themselves in their own eyes to the size of grasshoppers. Those ten men turned a whole nation back into the wilderness by what they said with their mouths.  They said, “Oh that we had died in the wilderness.” The Lord replied, “I will deal with you according to the very words you have used in my hearing¾here in this wilderness, to the last man, they shall die” (Nos 14:27-35). Apart from Joshua and Caleb, not one of them survived”.

 We are ‘ensnared by the words of our mouth’. (Pro 6:2). In other words, what you say is what you get. Words betray the heart. ‘For a man’s words flow out of what fills his heart’. (Matt 12:34-37). As a Christian, when Satan looks at you, he is meant to see a reflection of the Lord Jesus. The only two things that will tell him who you are, is the way you behave and the way that you speak, think about that!

 

If you want to hear the Amorite spirit Listen to everyday street language. It’s not too hard to place people in the Church. All you have to do is listen to what they are saying and see how they are reacting to the circumstances of life and it won’t be too long before you can place them. Our faith will never rise above the words of our mouth.

 

In taking Jericho the Lord put a fast of words upon them, and they had to march around the city walls for seven days without saying anything. The Lord told them ‘Do not utter even a word’ (Jos.6: 10). So for seven days they marched in silence, never breaking rank, fasting their words and then at the precise time they began to give a shout and the walls came tumbling down. Why! Because there was unity in what they were saying with their mouths. This is what Jesus meant when he said that ‘If any two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven’. (Matt. 18: 19-20). The emphasis is on unity in mind and heart and where there is unity there is power.

There’s wisdom in obedience to the lord even when we don’t understand how He’s going to bring about the answer. After forty years they began to learn the lesson and one of the greatest lessons that we need to get hold of is that ‘God watches over his word to perform it’. (Jer. 1:12). God is able to do anything; unfortunately our words can prevent him. Remember Zechariah, ‘since you have not believed my words, which will come true at their appointed time, you will be silenced and have no power of speech until this has happened’. (Lk.1: 20). We need to check out if anything we are doing or saying is making the word of God null and void. (Matt.15: 7). has anyone ever provoked you and in doing so has caused you to retaliate. That’s one of the characteristics of the Amorite spirit. This Amorite spirit caused Moses to be provoked it also caused him to “boast”.

‘They enraged him at the waters of Meribah; as a result, things went wrong for Moses, since they had embittered his spirit and he spoke without stopping to think’. (Ps.106: 32-33) That’s how this enemy works, if he can succeed in provoking you, he will cause you to exalt yourself.

‘Listen now you rebels. Must we bring forth water from this rock for you? And Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice’. (Nos 20: 12-13).

 

Because of this incident Moses was told that he would not be leading them into the Promised Land. Earlier Moses was told to strike the rock once. The rock refers to Jesus and you don’t crucify him twice. Because this enemy provoked Moses and caused him to say things that he should never ever have said, he retaliated back at them. Here they were murmuring, they were complaining and Moses allowed them to provoke his spirit. This enemy will try to provoke our spirits and then we say things with our mouths that we shouldn’t be saying.

 

Egypt grew in might with earthly wisdom and the Lord sent a perverse spirit; and they began to argue to speak against and criticise one another. The word perverse means to say something in order to distort and to cast to the ground. ‘I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian, brother will fight against brother, neighbour against neighbour, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. The Egyptians will lose heart and their plans will come to nothing’. ¾The Lord has poured into them a spirit of dizziness’ (Is.19: 1-3; 14) in a very short time that great nation had been reduced to ashes, because of their perverse speaking. When families and Churches speak evil against one another: THEY GO INTO THE DUST; that’s the ‘Amorite spirit’.

 

In the letter of James in chapter three he tells us that ‘a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell’. If you don’t control the Amorite spirit it will control you.

 

James said that the tongue was like a tiny rudder on a ship. The whole ship is controlled and guided by the rudder. He is saying, a mature Christian is one who has control over his tongue. Let us learn to speak creatively about ourselves and about those around us. Let us be ‘quick to listen, but slow to speak’. ‘

Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones’.

(Pro 16:24).

This tells me that I can have healing for my bones by the words that I say with my mouth.

‘My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight; keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health for the whole body’. (Pro 4:20-22).

God’s words are health for my whole body When I line my words up with the word of God, keeping them in my heart and before my eyes, then God will watch over his word to bring it to past. ‘The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit’. (Pro 18:21). Scripture tells us that we reap what we sow. in the parable of the sower the seeds that were sown were the seeds of God’s word. Our words are likened unto seeds and they will either produce life or they will produce death. ‘Zips’ are firelighters, we need to learn how to ‘zip’ the lip and take control over this spirit of the Amorite.

 

Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord;

Keep watch over the door of my lips. (Ps. 141:3).

 

May the words of my mouth and the meditation

Of my heart be pleasing in your sight. (Ps. 19:14).

 

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. (Eph. 4:29).

 

 

ISRAEL'S & OUR ENEMIES (Part 1)

THE NATURAL MAN

In the Old Testament, Israel has always been a type of the Church. We read about natural warfare being fought out against a people who have been taken from the nations of the world to ‘be a people consecrated to God’ (Deut 7:6).

Concerning the Church, Peter picks up this same theme when he says ‘you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart’. (1 Pt 2:9).

Israel’s wilderness journey was to deal with their natural man.

What applied to Israel also applies to the Church. ‘You cannot belong to Christ Jesus unless you crucify all self-indulgent passions and desires’. (Gal 5:24). Man is born with five natural driving forces.

·        The 1st natural drive is ‘self-preservation’.

They said ‘were there no graves in Egypt that you had to bring us out to die in the desert? What good have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Did we not say to you in Egypt, ‘leave us alone; we would rather work for the Egyptians than to die in the desert’? (Ex 14:11). There you have the same reaction that you see today. Many people want to follow the Lord but at the same time they want to hang on to their old way of living. You can’t serve two masters. Serving the old master will keep you bound, serving the new master will set you free, which is not a license to do what you want to do, but it is having the freedom to do what you ought to be doing, that’s the difference.

·        The 2nd natural drive is ‘hunger & thirst’.

They said, ‘what shall we drink?’ (Ex 15:24). They had witnessed their miraculous deliverance three days earlier, there was great rejoicing but now there was a problem. The water was so bitter that they could not drink it. This hardship caused them to remember their hardships in Egypt, and the Lord allowed it so that they could deal with their bitterness, their murmuring and their complaining, but they didn’t know how to handle the situations or the painful memories. Then they thought about the good things of Egypt and that brought them painful memories because they were now denied those things. ‘You have brought us out into this wilderness to kill us all with hunger’. (Ex 16:3).  They were still psychologically and emotionally linked to their past by their thoughts and so those imaginations as Paul writes can become ‘strongholds in the mind that have to be torn down’ otherwise we can’t move forward. They had been slaves for four hundred years and those scars needed to be dealt with before they could enter into the blessings of the Promised Land, otherwise those scars would cause them to be unfruitful in the land of Canaan. It’s interesting to note that it was in this place of bitterness that the Lord revealed to them that ‘I am the Lord who heals you’. That tells me that the Lord will allow certain situations to happen to us, in order free us from memories of the past. As far as the Lord is concerned he has freed us from the past, but in our own minds and hearts this may not be so.

·        The 3^rd natural drive is ‘gain of possessions’.

They said, ‘Why did you bring us out here to destroy our livestock’. (Ex 17:3).

When the Israelites left Egypt they plundered the Egyptians of their gold, silver and clothes. Now there were no supermarkets to buy or trade in, but the one thing that belonged to them in Egypt was their livestock. It was at this place, Horeb, that they tested the Lord by saying ‘is the Lord with us or not?’ In the Beatitudes when Jesus said, ‘blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth’, he was saying that the people who would inherit the earth were those who had a right attitude in their minds and in their hearts towards those things that God had created. The house that I live in and all the possessions that are in it belong to the Lord. My wife and I have four children, they are not our children, and they belong to the Lord. I drive a car it is in my possession but it belongs to the Lord. Everything that we possess has only been entrusted to us, because ‘the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it’. (Ps 24:1).

When I cut the lawn I say to myself ‘I’m looking after your lawn Lord, praise you’. No matter what we possess, if we keep in mind that everything belongs to the Lord, then if the Lord asks us to give up something it won’t be a problem for us, we will be able to let go with no regrets.

·        The 4^th natural drive is ‘spiritual intuition’.

They said, ‘Come, make us a god to go ahead of us’ (Ex 32:1).

They raised up a golden calf; because everyone has something in their lives that causes them to worship something. They looked for a god that they could see, so they turned to idolatry. When you lose your attachment to God then idolatry comes in, and then they turned to the occult and spiritualism like King Saul. Why do you think people today are turning to the occult? Because they have lost their communication with God. Then they turned to Egypt, which is outside sources for help. This is what happens when a Church or congregation are missing the guidance of good spiritual leadership. ‘Where there is no vision the people get out of hand’. (Pro 29:18). If the Church has no vision and the people are not being led, it’s not going anywhere so the people get disillusioned and start to wander off. There is the story of David just after he had been anointed king of Israel. David wanted to bring the ‘ark’ to Jerusalem, so they built a new cart to carry the ‘ark’ and on the journey the cart tilted causing Uzzah to reach out and steady it; and the Lord struck him down on the spot. (2 Sam 6:1-7). It is possible for a spiritual leader to recognise the need for the glory and the presence and the blessing of God, but a right thing must not be done in a wrong way. According to the word of God (No 4:15-19), the sons of Kohath were to bear the ‘ark’ on their shoulders. Anything introduced into the worship of God, contrary to his ways, is deserving of judgement. A ‘new cart’, can be any man made religious gimmick, contrary to the word of God, which is used to get the ‘ark’ of God’s presence back into a spiritually decadent congregation. New carts or golden calves must be burnt. Seek God’s face, study his word for his order and anything done in God’s way will never lack God’s blessing.

·        The 5^th natural drive is in the ‘sexual area’.

‘After eating and drinking, the people got up to amuse and indulge themselves in revelry’. (Ex 32:6). This is what happens when people turn away from the word of God and no longer retain the knowledge of God in their minds. Then God gives them over to a depraved mind.

‘That is why God has abandoned them to degrading passions: why their women have turned from natural intercourse to unnatural practices; and why their men folk have given up natural intercourse to be consumed with passion for each other, men doing shameless things with men and getting an appropriate reward for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge off God, he gave them over to a depraved mind; to do what ought not to be done.’ (Rm 1: 26-28).

 

If you are looking for an answer to all the sexual problems that are flooding society today, it’s because when people turn away from the word of God and no longer retain the word of God in their mind; then God gives them over to a reprobate mind such as a homosexual or a paedophile which is a twisting of the personality. Our personalities can be deformed by our obedience or our disobedience to the word of God. You could say that a person’s problems are related to their obedience or disobedience to the word of God.

For example, how does a root of bitterness form in a person’s heart?

It’s a rejection of the word of God that says ‘forgive one another’.

Why do people suffer from worry and anxiety?

It’s a rejection of the word of God that says ‘don’t worry or be anxious for anything’.

 

If God said it, then we should believe it and that should settle it.

The wilderness experience was for them to learn that‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’. (Deut 8:2-3). Israel entered the Promised Land but they did not enter into their rest. The reason they didn’t have any peace was because they failed to drive out the enemies that inhabited the land. Those enemies: The Amorites; The Hittites: The Hivites; The Canaanites; The Perizzites; The Jebusites; The Midianites and The Girgashites we are told, became for them ‘Thorns in their sides and a snare to them’. (Judges 2:3).

These physical enemies to the Jew now become the spiritual enemies to the Church.

 

INTRODUCTION TO SPIRITUAL WARFARE

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Eph 6:12)

 

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. (2 Cor 10:3-4)

You are well aware then that anyone who tries to live in devotion to Christ is certain to be attacked. (2 Tim 3: 12)

 When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but it finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it comes, it finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first. (Matt 12: 43-45)

Seven plus one make eight and in the land of Canaan there were eight enemies that Israel had to deal with. These are the spiritual enemies that attack every part of our being. When we learn to unmask and identify how they try to operate, then we can do something about it.

An ‘empty house’ describes a person who has been baptised, who has become a new creation but who has not been filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us to ‘be filled with the Spirit’ (Eph 5:18) and if you are filled with the Spirit then there is no room for the enemy to get back in.

Following this introduction the posts will identify 8 enemies that were in the land of Canaan that they were to deal with. These natural enemies to Israel now become the spiritual enemies to the Church.

BE CAREFUL FOR WHAT YOU PRAY FOR

People don’t know what they are asking for when they pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

When they pray, ‘melt me, mould me, fill me, use me’, do they really understand what they have just asked for? Then they wonder why everything in their world has turned upside down and inside out.

 When we speak about the world we mean the cosmos or systems that govern the world. This world has its own fashions or ways of doing things. It has its own principles. It has its own wisdom and it has its own course with its own seasons and times.

There is a time limit on this world and we are heading right on course with God’s timetable. When Jesus cast the legion out of the man they said ‘have you come to torture us before the time’.

This world’s system is not going to get any better. You cannot change the system but you can change the hearts of people under the system and bring them into a new system.

Whenever the Philistines captured the ‘Ark’ and placed it in their temple beside their god Dagon, the next morning Dagon was found lying face down so they put him upright again. The next morning his head and his hands had been severed and the people were inflicted with tumours. So what does this say to us and what does it mean?

Whenever the presence of God comes on the scene, then worldly systems; kingdoms; fashions and principles will collapse and tumble and there will be more and more chaos, because He comes to bring Divine Order.

There has been an outpouring of the Holy Spirit these past 40 years and there has to be a casting down of the systems that are established to prepare for the return of Jesus.

If this world does not bow the knee now, it will be forced to bow its knee when Jesus returns. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken; and only that which has its foundations built and founded on rock will be left standing.

We are seeing financial systems being shaken, we are seeing political systems being shaken, and we are seeing the natural world being shaken. So let’s once again take heed to what Jesus said in Matthew 24

                                                                                                                                      

When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"Jesus answered them, "Beware that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places; all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs. "Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. Then many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come.

If ever we needed a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit it is now, so be prepared for all your props to collapse around you.; Be prepared for rejection and being alienated; be prepared for the shadow of the cross to cover you and be prepared for His power working within you which can do more that you could ever imagine and be prepared for the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.