15 Feb Shut the Front Door! (Learning to shut the door to the enemy in your life) PART 7
Before we jump back into our series let’s review…
We recently began sharing, “Four Biblical Balances to Opposition”:
- If you’ve never had a head-on collision with the devil…chances are you’re walking with him!
- With divine opportunity comes demonic opposition.
- When you experience opposition, don’t just assume you are doing something wrong…it may be you are doing something right!
- Many times the tallest trees experience the harshest winds.
We then shared with you some entry points the devil endeavors to use as cracks in the doors of our life. If we can identify these, we can shut these doors tightly and thereby cut off his access points to us.
“Six Entry Exhibits”:
- Worry (I Pet 5:5-8)
Worry is simply a glorified form of fear. Worry and fear open the door to the devil in our lives. Remember this: Worry is simply pulling tomorrow’s clouds over today’s sunshine! You can shut the door to worry in your life by simply doing I Peter 5:7… “Casting (again the Greek word “epirhipto” which means to make a “quick toss”) your cares (your worry or anxiety) on the Lord because He cares for you.”
2. Internalized anger (Eph. 4:26-27)
Here the Word of God tells us, “Be ye angry, and sin not; let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Neither give place to the devil.” In these powerful verses the Greek word translated “wrath” is “paragismos” which denotes “an explosive rage.” The Greek word “place” is “topos” which means ground (we get our word “topography” from it).
Remember this: Anger that is internalized eventually becomes wrath that is verbalized!
Remember this: Communication disarms the devil. The devil has a hard time hiding in a place called communication! Shut the front door!
- Strife (James 3:14-16)
Here the Bible tells us, “But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descends not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and EVERY EVIL WORK.”
The Greek word translated “strife” is “eritheia,” which is a political term that means partisan or factions. It is to put yourself over the family, church or country. It describes a person who simply wants what they want and will fight others to get it! Notice this type of wisdom is “devilish,” the Greek word “daimoniodos” which means demon-like or “proceeding from an evil spirit.” Strife opens up the door to confusion and every evil work! Strife literally opens the door to the devil in our lives!
This week let’s continue…
Here at Joy Church, we have a policy that all paid staff must sign before they accept employment here. In that policy it very clearly delineates that strife is a fireable offense. Now please don’t mistake me…I am not looking for “yes” men or women. However, we must learn to disagree agreeably and not get into strife! There is a big difference between disagreement and strife. The first is part of maturity, the latter opens the door to the enemy!
Please allow me to share with you “Two Strife Standards”:
1.) The more mature you become it does not mean you will never sin…but it does mean you will fix it quicker!
My beautiful wife and I have been married 31 years. Over 31 years we have had our fair share of “disagreements.” However, over the years we have learned to fix them quicker! Anne and I are determined to keep strife out of our life and the devil out of our home!
2.) Strife in your life lets the devil in your door!
I love World Changers Bible Institute! It has always been one of my favorite things…to teach hungry hearts the Word of God! Over decades of teaching Bible school classes, there has only been one I did not fully enjoy. I remember it very clearly. Many years ago we had one Bible school student who caused strife just about in every class. He didn’t just have questions, he was “questioning.”
It seemed like he simply wanted to take the role of contrarian to everything that we said. It made all the other students uncomfortable and you could literally feel the tension every single class. It got to the point where I almost did not enjoy coming to teach that particular class. Finally after a few weeks, the cantankerous student left and you could literally feel the peace and joy return to the entire class.
The Bible tells us in Proverbs 26:20, “Where no wood is, there the fire goes out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceases.” I literally watched that Scripture come to pass before my eyes. Once the “wood” of strife was removed from the class, the fire went out!
Join us next week as we continue our series…