| Legalism and Spiritual Warfare 4/9/07 George Poulo Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow So a curse without a cause shall not alight. Pr26:2 Satan is a legalist. My friend gave me this teaching not too long ago. What he said was that if you break the law you give Satan the right to attack you because you opened the door. Not only that, Satan will store up transgressions and hit you with a big clout when he sees fit to do so. Let me tell you how this plays out. At work a few months ago my boss decided to revise an SOP for the company. He told me that I had better do a clean up report. I said I would but because I was angry I didn't. Well not two months later we had an FDA audit. They asked me if I did clean up reports and I had to tell them I didn't. The result was condemnation, big time, for over two weeks as I struggled with the FDA and my own personal guilt. I had to repent to God for not obeying my master according to Colossians 3:22-25. "But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality." (Verse 25) You may have done something twenty-five years ago which no one has known and it can come back to haunt you. It is the advantage that Satan has. If you open a door, he can come in like a flood, but God will raise a standard against him (Is59:17 paraphrased). It's a sad thing but Romans three tells us quite clearly all have sinned. We are all subject to the attack of Satan. But if we repent and begin to walk in the Spirit we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. It does not stop here however. Let me give you another example. James one states the a double minded person is unstable in all his ways and he will not receive anything from the Lord. Well when I went to college I went for a Masters in Philosophy. I am a simple person who sucks in everything I read and the various philosophies were so unsettling by the time two years were gone I had a nervous breakdown and was sick on and off for five years before I stabilized. Only by going to a prayer meeting in Newark was I delivered from the malady. Here is another. I inherited an uncomfortableness with woman which made me want to put them on a pedestal or treat them lustfully. Not even being born again and filled with the Holy Spirit could rid me of this double mindedness. It was only within the last year was I able to break the wave driven with the wind and tossed by repenting and confessing scripture. I could talk about going to church services as well and hearing a message from God and a message from the flesh at the same time which would cause me to be double minded and consequently I would get sick even during the service. The spiritual root of many diseases is double mindedness. I believe cancer has its root in double mindedness because just as the spirit and the mind can not discern good from evil and right from wrong, it communicates that to the body and the body no longer can tell good cells from bad cancerous cells. Poverty, too, has its root in double mindedness because the Matthew five says that those who are single minded (pure in heart) see God. To be single minded is to achieve the goals you have set out for yourself and to be double minded is to be thwarted. Sin runs deep. People who are hard on themselves who really hate who they are, who are filled with religious guilt can incur various autoimmune diseases because of the sin of not loving themselves. Diabetes is the body attacking the pancreas. Lupus is the body attacking the joints. Crohn's disease is the body attacking the colon. MS is the body attacking the brain. These people are opening up the door to Satan because they can not forgive themselves. Unforgiveness is a sin whether towards another person or yourself. Unforgiveness of others can lead to bitterness and strife, hypertension and stress. This may lead to anger and rage and violence and murder and must be repented as well. Fear of relationships and abandonment and fear of rejection issues are a spirit of fear and can lead to asthma and must be dealt with on a spiritual level as well as the person tries to keep people at a safe distance. I could go on and on. The bottom line is in order to be healed in many cases the spiritual root must be dealt with first. If we would examine ourselves we would not have to suffer so much and the attacks of Satan would cease because we are being obedient to God. May God bless the hearing of this word. Special thanks to Henry Wright for writing "A More excellent Way" and for my friend who gave me a teaching in five minutes that was very powerful as well. Amen |
 |