Way of The Warrior- A Daily Devotional

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. – 2 Peter 2:1-3 ESV

Warrior;

Satan hates God, and He hates God’s Children! If Satan can’t defeat God, and He can’t- he is a mere creature himself- he will accept taking away God’s glory and His Love, His children. He might not be able to take away someone’s salvation, but He can take away their usefulness, their availability! Satan’s whole strategy is based on making people sin. He knows that nothing which defiles will enter God’s kingdom, and sin is the only thing that defiles in God’s sight. “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Romans 6:16) Notice that we become a servant of whoever we obey. If we obey God, we are a servant of God; and if we cease obeying God, we cease being a servant of God. The enemy’s DESIRE is to cause creatures to obey him and become his servant. It doesn’t matter WHY you disobey, it only matters THAT YOU DISOBEY! Many people use RELIGION as an excuse to disobey the WILL OF GOD. Jesus spoke repeatedly of those who would be guilty of this paradoxical conduct. He declared, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:22, 23).

Leader, there are some interesting patterns before us in the Bible. God incarnate, Jesus the Christ, attacked one group of people most often- the RELIGIOUS leaders. Jesus was always at SPIRITUAL WAR with the Sadducees and the Pharisees. Beware of RELIGION it is the FIRST and most common COUNTERFEIT OF THE DEVIL. The devil is a counterfeit. He is the one with the ‘shiny’ objects, the obfuscation, and the confusion. The Founder of Religion, the first son of ‘Mans attempt to FORCE God to accept him” is NIMROD. Today, if someone called you a NIMROD, you would be OFFENDED! Nimrod was a great grandson of Noah, and his mother and wife, Semiramis, also known as Ishtar, or Isis. Nimrod, also known in Egypt as Osiris, was the founder of the first world empire at Babel, later known as Babylon, (Genesis 10:8-12; 11:1-9) Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:4) Nimrod and Semiramis are also the two key figures in the origin of Christmas on December 25^th. God is not interested in our RELIGIOUS ACTS, He is interested in our OBEDIENCE. Jesus was clear on this point: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”. (John 14:15) This is a heart issue, NOT a hands and feet issue. This is a relationship issue, not an issue of RELIGION. Confusion is the #1 weapon formed against us, so Satan sets up COUNTERFEITS. Things and actions that LOOK REAL, that LOOK SPIRITUAL, but are only for show! The Devil is a LIAR and uses those LIES- that have some basis in truth, to confuse us and hopefully lead us into temptation and into sin!

Conduit: Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4) By blinding the minds of men to the true gospel of God, Satan has set himself up as a counterfeit of the Creator God. As the prince of the power of the air, he broadcasts his evil, rebellious attitudes to all humanity, and except for a few whom God has called out of his deceptions, the whole world lives under his sway (Ephesians 2:1-3; I John 5:19; Revelation 12:9). Even the first HUMAN King of Israel was not immune from the deception of the devil. In 1 Samuel 15, we can read about King Saul and his battle with the Amalekites. God sent him to fight against the Amalekites, who had become so depraved that God ordered Saul to utterly destroy them. Nothing was to be brought back as souvenirs or booty from this campaign. 1 Samuel 15:14-15 is Saul’s logical and excuse laden response to why he disobeyed God. To God, partial disobedience is DISOBEDIENCE! But Samuel replied, “Then what is this bleating of sheep and lowing of cattle that I hear?” Saul answered, “The troops brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but the rest we devoted to destruction.” As flesh, Saul blamed “the people” for sparing the animals, trying to shift the responsibility for the act of disobedience. He then attempted to make it seem that it was a trifling matter, because “the rest” of God’s word had been fulfilled. Only one little deviation was made, so why make such a big deal out of it, and besides, these animals were not for them; they were to be used for worshiping God! Saul’s justification? Saul was disobeying God in order to worship Him. Samuel replied, “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (verse 22) When Jesus was incarnate, He fought with the RELIGIOUS people, He protected the sinners who were being attacked by the RELIGIOUS people and the Demons always knew who He was, and thus, WHO HE WAS! “You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror”. (James 2:19) If you are a true follower of Jesus Christ then the Lord KNOWS YOU! If you are a Warrior for JESUS CHRIST, then the DEVIL KNOWS YOU TOO, and He is working 24\7 and 7\365 to get you to dishonor God and walk the way of the WORLD instead of the WAY OF THE LORD! Have a good foundation; grounded and focused on the Lord! Use the Word of God as your standard! Don’t take deception lightly! This is how you STAY THE COURSE in this time of the GREAT FALLING AWAY! Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.