Truth Byte #13

​We can’t even say “The devil made me do it.” God did not invite Satan into the world; man did. Jesus defeated the devil, but it is man’s job to search and destroy. It is man’s job to send the devil packing, and the place to start is with ourselves. God has already done all He is going to do about the devil. With the authority we have through the Holy Spirit, we sweep that unholy one—the one who did influence us that is for certain—we sweep him out of our existence, out of our territory. The earth we cleanse from his filth is the earth we live in, ourselves. We know now that we want to love “good” and despise evil.
 
Evil is so easily taken care of. We tell it to go, in Jesus’ name, and it is obligated to leave us alone. Jesus gave us that authority. I have so many personal testimonies of using that authority, for myself, that I know evil lives in terror of me. Is he afraid of you? He should be!

The Bible speaks well of dreams and visions, but the nobility of our ideals and the depth of our intellectual viewpoint holds no place in the Word of God. What defines a man of God is how those views and ideals are observable in our character. Can anyone else “see” that we are Christians? What does it matter what opinion we hold unless someone else benefits from that opinion?
 
I almost hate intellectualism because it carries with it a sense of superiority. Who, may I ask, can actually call themselves superior? God really did make us all equal. We’re all made of dust; we all have souls to work with; we were all made with a purpose, an enjoyable purpose I might add; and we all have a susceptibility to God if we will submit ourselves to it. But the intellectual rarely does.
 
I come from a family of intellectuals, people who think and think and think in order to come up with the one and only correct plan for doing anything. They don’t seem to comprehend one horrible conclusion to so much thinking. What we think will first express itself as speech, then as action, which, since that action is not the result of faith, is sin.
 
God doesn’t tell us not to covet because He’s afraid we might become thieves; God tells us that we are thieves because we covet. He doesn’t warn us not to be angry with our brother because we might become murderers; God tells us we are murderers because we are angry with our brother. The thought life is of utmost importance, and the thoughts of the intellectual are of no more importance than ours if neither one is stimulated by God. We are much better off waiting for the Presence of the Lord to manifest within us, giving us His plan. We are much better off obeying our Lord and Savior than telling Him what to do.
 
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled (2 Corinthians 10:4–6).