Think

"God also wants our minds, our thinking processes, made new."

JESUS CAME to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8. “Destroy” is a particularly descriptive word, which alters our thinking of who the devil is today. It means, “to dissolve something coherent into parts, to break up, demolish, to destroy (G3089).” Something demolished, something dissolved cannot be put back together. This is the picture of Jesus’ victory over Satan. What are we fighting then, day-to-day? It is a common thought within the church to know the devil is defeated yet in our conversation, in our worship, to put him back together again. We speak of him as omnipresent and all-powerful when we should know otherwise.

We just read his work has been broken into parts, dissolved, and destroyed. So what is the Truth? What does the Spirit want us to know, and how should we speak of him?

A wonderful man of God from my youth used to say there wasn’t one unclean spirit behind every bush, there were ten. He spoke tongue-in-cheek, and people would laugh. But we must know what Jesus did in its fullness. If He fought the war against the devil, and the result was Satan’s destruction, then where is he, where are unclean spirits (devils), and why does church doctrine continually teach mistruth? For this, we turn to Ephesians 6:12.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

Prophet Kenneth E. Hagin was given clarity on this verse from the Spirit, who told him these were a progression of powers, and this is true. But it isn’t what I’ve heard ministers say, an organized system of Satan’s workers. We’ve given him a kingdom and made him king of it. We speak of him like the royalty of darkness. But to lay a foundation, we must know Satan DOESN’T HAVE A KINGDOM. He’s IN a kingdom. Because he sinned and was kicked out of God’s kingdom, he is in the kingdom of darkness. This is simply the place where God is not. We must understand this statement. God is everywhere, including in hell, but there is a place where sin is given first place among men and spiritual beings, and where disobedience is given control, God allows it.

Second, we must know Satan isn’t a ruler, or magistrate, a king or prince, although the King James Version uses these Old English words in translation. The word “archon” used in the original Greek means “first.” Satan was the first to sin and the worst to sin. No one tempted him. He was filled with his own pride and deceit. Jesus called him “a murderer from the beginning” and “a liar, and the father of it (John 8:44).” All that Satan thought within himself, the supposed coup he thought to do (Isaiah 14:13), was not a surprise to God. Nor was it successful. God kicked him out of heaven (Luke 10:18), out of His Presence, NOT TO GIVE HIM AUTHORITY, a kingdom, or “soldiers” to do his beck and call. SATAN LOST ALL HIS AUTHORITY, his wisdom, his beauty. He lost all his being. DO NOT THINK he became some powerful, superior enemy of God.

God is God. Satan is a fallen being God created for good and destroyed because of sin.

So to return to Ephesians 6:12, what are these progression of powers referred to? We have PRINCIPALITIES, POWERS, RULERS of the darkness of this world, and SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS in HIGH PLACES. Two Truths gave me understanding. Knowing the Truth of Satan’s fall from heaven and the dissolving of his works by Jesus Christ removes any thought of this being any kingdom of darkness structure and authority. AND knowing how sin and darkness, which the devil caused to happen, still work on this earth among men and spiritual beings make its meaning clear.

We learn the meaning from the words of James.

“But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” (James 1:14-15)

We are not in a war any longer. There is no need to fight to obtain what Jesus has already accomplished. We are not living in the days of Daniel when the angel of God had to fight to get through the opposition of the prince of the kingdom of Persia (Daniel 10:13). All of the opposition, all who sinned and were cast from heaven, are without authority. We don’t have to worry about them, listen to them, nor are they higher and more powerful than Christ has made us. BUT as it says in James 1:14-15, if we give heed to lust, if we listen to sin, if we meditate on the desires of the flesh (the body), then what we give heed to will grow and conceive. Here is the progression of Ephesians 6:12. They are levels of thought. What begins as a principality, something we don’t turn loose of, becomes a power (exousia), an authority in us. And when we choose to live there, to make that a part of us, then it beings to rule. It didn’t have rule. We gave it rule. Note the word is plural in Ephesians 6, RULERS. It speaks not of a ruler or power of darkness (they are dissolved, remember), but of world affairs and “the whole circle of earthly goods (G2889),” a word origin of it. Minister Happy Caldwell listed these as such things like abortion, pornography, gambling, drugs.

Something that rules you then becomes a HIGH PLACE. The Word of God speaks of high places throughout the Old Testament. These were mountains and trees, physically high places, where men worshiped false gods. They were places of idolatry, men even sacrificing their children or performing perversion to manmade objects. God was specific with His commandments to Israel. The first one was to have no other gods before Him (Exodus 20:3). Because He saw the people’s leaning toward the gods of Egypt. The most startling example being the golden calf. This idol was formed after seeing the miracles of Egypt, after crossing the Red Sea on dry land and seeing the enemy drown, after seeing God on the throne and the floor beneath His feet, after seeing the glory of Him on the mountain where Moses ascended. All of that wasn’t enough to satisfy the lust which conceived in their hearts. So they turned to what doesn’t breathe and can’t talk for their worship and died in the wilderness at the edge of God’s Promised Land.

We have the Holy Spirit to help us renew our mind. I love how the Remedy Translation phrases it in the life of Jesus: “Jesus, with his human mind filled with the Holy Spirit … (Luke 4:1)” This is our goal, how we should desire to think. We are not just saved, and our spirit man is recreated to be like God, and that’s that. God also wants our minds, our thinking processes, made new. We have a part to play. We must choose to think godly ways and methods, think on godly things. But we are not alone, under our own power, in being successful. The Holy Spirit is in us for a reason, and Jesus told us that reason from the start. When speaking to His disciples of the coming of the Comforter, who is the Spirit, He said the Spirit would be in us to Teach us Truth, to bring things to our remembrance, and to Guide us in how we should walk (John 14:26;John 16:13). We must give ourselves to listen. We can ignore Him and obey what the church would incorrectly say is “the devil.” Don’t put him back on the pedestal God has removed him from.

We aren’t fighting “flesh and blood,” meaning people (Ephesians 6:12). We aren’t fighting devils and unclean spirits either. We’re not supposed to be fighting at all, not others, nor ourselves. God tells us to rest, to trust Him, and to be at peace. He’s provided the Way, the Power, and the Ability. He is our Wisdom to do it.

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (Philippians 4:8)

Photo by Valeriia Miller on Unsplash


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com