SATAN...
What comes to mind when you hear this word? I couldn't begin to express all of the images that have been produced within the minds of men concerning this word over time. I remember seeing images of satan as a child on a cartoon that have never seemed to leave my mental picture of it. I call satan an 'it' because it has been my experience that when the word satan was personified, calling satan a 'he', it brought confusion to me. A confusion that I am slowly being released from. For now, it is better for me to say 'it'.
I know that many people coming into maturity of spiritual things, even if it is slightly in the truth, have come to realize that satan is not a red-suited pitch fork holder in the underground of hell, as I mentioned in the message 'torment'. But perhaps, although they have matured in some measure, they still hold the idea of satan being an entity existing in the outer realm or physical world. That satan is personified as a 'he'. Some sort of dark essence that floats around in the physical realm and causes havoc like we see on television or a single dictator that has or will rule some nation with harsh evil. It is written in areas that satan comes quickly or satan is to move behind Christ, or satan falls from heaven, or satan rises up, or satan casts out, or satan desires, or satan fills the heart, or satan gets bruised, or satan gets an advantage, or satan is transformed into light, or satan buffets as a thorn in the side, or satan hinders, or people turn aside to follow satan, or people dwell in satans seat, or satan has a synagogue, or satan binds and loosens and steals and as crazy as it sounds, satan was a literal snake in the beginning of time. All of this, if not handled properly, can give the impression that satan in some way is a physical entity capable of moving among the created realm. That in some way satan can be seen with the physical eyes or felt with the other senses. In truth, satan is capable, but in a different manner than we may think, as we will soon see. Many are troubled and caught in between vues. They know satan cannot be known with the senses, but somehow their limited vue still holds the idea and treats satans existence as so. When we read these descriptions, it is very easy but dangerous to give satan a personification as a single being floating around in this created realm, somehow gaining the title of prince. When a car accident happens or a disease comes to a person or a storm floods a home, they say 'satan is really attacking us'. When we can't find our car keys or we lose all of our contacts on the phone or our computer crashes several times in a day, we think we are the victim of 'satans' successful mission of thwarting the will of God in our lives. Does this sound familiar?
What vue do we then take of satan? I cannot give you the fullest description of satan because I do not know all things as they are at the moment, but I can share with you the vue I have come to receive along this long, enduring road God has me on. I can probably give you a better description of what satan is not, rather than a complete description of what satan is. However, my attempt here will be to give you a foundational thought to keep and consider throughout your days as you approach satan face to face nearly every moment of your waking days. Sorry, I know that may sound hard and frightening to say you will face satan every moment of your waking day, but my hope is that by the end of the message you will get a better vue of the reality of satan and that hard thought will become easy and the burden of it light.
The word satan comes from a Greek word 'satanas', which is rooted in other words leading back to the Hebrew language. Rather than reiterating and explaining the part of each word given as we step back into the original language of the words that 'satanas' was brought out of, I noticed that each word carried with it the same common idea and perhaps we can just share all of the meanings and see them as a whole. Here are those words, 'accuser', 'opponent', 'adversary', 'withstander, 'enemy', 'attacker', and 'resister'. All of these words are excellent in describing satan and if you ever talk with me, you will most likely never hear me use the word satan, but rather I would likely use some of the descriptive words before mentioned. Why do I avoid the word satan? So that I do not put satan into the box of thought and trigger the preconceived idea that you may or may not already have. You most likely will not hear me gripe that 'satan' is attacking me when my wife and I are at odds. Yes, it is true that 'satan' is an element involved, but it is in a much different way or vue. May my words bring fresh thoughts and new visions of the reality of this 'enemy' or 'withstander' of God.
Of all the words used to describe satan down through history, I prefer using 'adversary' and 'opposer'. These words, in my vue and within my own experience, carry less of the preconceived ideas and are easier for me to carry along and speak about. What is an adversary? It is a force that opposes or works against or resists another force. It is an adverse or counter to a thing. If you take medication and find that you are allergic to the medication, you will experience an opposing reaction. Your body will resist the medication and you will have an adverse response to it. To be adverse means that within something there is contained an ingredient that opposes another. In a football game, one team is adverse to the other. One team contains within themselves the drive and force and energy to win, meanwhile, the other team contains within themselves a drive and force and energy to work against that win. As both teams face one another, those drives within themselves oppose or are adverse to one another. Once force counters another. They oppose one another. Adversity comes through response. If there is no response, there is no adversity. Keep this in mind.
Satan is the adverse force to the will, plan and purpose of God. Satan opposes the way and movement of God. Satan is a continuous friction to the reign of God. God is love and satan opposes love. God is peace and satan opposes peace. God gives and satan steals. This is something that most all agree on, right? Yet, is satan a being that floats around and causes havoc on humanity? It was interesting to me that Yeshua stood face to face with Peter, on his mission to die for the world, and as Peter withstood the plan that Yeshua was following, Yeshua told satan to get behind him. Peter opposed the plan of God and Yeshua referred to his opposition as satan. If Yeshua would have said 'get behind me Peter, because you are resisting the plan of my father', we would have no thought to question that statement and the word 'satan' would likely not have come to mind. But in our carnal thinking, we imagine satan was a being that could literally come stand behind Yeshua. What was the mind and thinking that drove Peter to be Gods adversary at that moment? It is easy to read Peter as opposing God at that moment, but very difficult to read that Peter was following the way of satan at that moment. Do you follow?
Consider your life for a moment. Consider your thoughts and your desires and your interests. Consider what distracts you and pulls you from the peace within your inner self. Consider the turmoil and toil and torment that arises within you day after day. Consider the temptation and draw to error that surfaces and springs up within you at any given moment of your waking day. Consider the force that you face nearly every waking moment. Do you remember that hard thought we talked about earlier? What is that force? What is that adversary to peace? What is that resister of love? What rises up to sit on the throne, in the temple of God which you are? Where is that throne and where is that temple?
Is it not in you? Is that adverse and resisting heart and mind not in you?
Is it not your own self? Your own carnal nature? Your own instinctive, fleshy, earthly minded nature? You are wired to love, but the nature you hold among this created realm opposes that original wiring. You are wired to give kindness and mercy and compassion, but that carnal thinking and carnal desire and carnal mind resists it. Where is satan? What is satan? How do we defeat satan? Think about it...
Satan is not outside of you. Satan is an adverse mind. Satan is an opposing force within man, that stands against God and desires to sit itself among the throne of the heart, in the temple of God which you are. This throne and temple are not the physical ones in the old city Jerusalem made with hands. No, it is the heart and mind and inner being made without hands. Satan is among each one of us. Satan will be destroyed when all things are fulfilled and God is all in all. When God is all in all, there is no room for an opposing thought or desire against God. Satan is removed and thwarted from the reigning position that is within your heart. Satan is cast from your heaven. Just as you are not to look here or there outside of you for the Christ to come, why then should we look outside of ourselves for satan? Satan needs to be fed in order to continue and reign, but as our thoughts, mind and desire feeds upon the living water and bread from heaven, satan or the opposing nature within us has no strength and no ability to resist God. Resist the adverse nature within you and starve it. Flee from the opposing thoughts that arise from your carnal and limited thinking. You do not need to run from satan with your feet, but run from satan with the new mind that was given into you. The self nature that is slowly destroying you and leading you into error is to be crushed by the new nature and new mind and new strength of Christ within you. This entire battle is within you. This entire battle is within me. The new heaven is within me. The new earth is within me. The end of the old world is within me. The dust which the serpent feeds upon as it crawls on its belly is you and me. We are the dust of the earth and the adverse mind feeds among us and within us all the days of our lives.
So then, you will not find me blaming my troubles on satan. You will not find me calling myself a victim of satans evil schemes. You will not hear me speak of satan as an entity outside of me or you. My old nature, my old thinking, my old desires are leading me along a road of destruction. This dying nature tricks us day after day. We are deceived by our own self. Our hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Isn't satan called the father of lies and the deceiver and liar from the beginning? From the beginning of our time, our adverse nature has been the most wicked and deceitful of all things. We are the host of God and our opposing nature is the host of the adversary of God.
Get behind thee satan says the anointed of God within me. You have nothing within me says the anointed of God. You cannot touch my right mind says the anointed of God. When I see your force among my thoughts and my desires and spilling out of my words, I will recognize my self as the resistance of God and I will not respond to you. Your power is dead among me, says the Christ of God within me. I am no longer a slave to fear, of which I find among my inner self, of which is the adversary to the faith of God. I do not have to fight you in any other way, than to starve your ways with the anointment of God (Christ) among my inner self. I only need to slay you with the sword of the spirit (mind) and keep watch as your rise up to crush my forehead. Yet the helmet of delivery and the breastplate of right ways, the belt of truth and walking with my feet in the peace of the good news that God is with me, these unseen things will protect and guide and conquer the enemy and opposing force with me.
Let there be no adversary found among us from this moment on. When it is found, God will surely reveal it to you and you can expect a battle until that adverse way is purged and cast out of you. Perhaps that battle may come through affliction or suffering or torment or pain. If my eye causes me to error or follow the way of the adversary, cast it out. Now of course, I wouldn't pluck my eye out, but God is instructing and encouraging us to put it from us. Do you follow?
By the way, 'satan', 'devil', 'beast', 'false prophet', 'dragon' 'angel of the bottomless pit', 'anti-Christ', 'evil one', 'god of this age', 'serpent', 'leviathon', 'man of sin', 'murderer', 'ruler of demons', 'serpent of old' and such terms are all descriptive of the very same nature. It is all one and the same and it is not very far from you. As long as we allow our carnal mind to rule, we will view these terms in a far different manner than we ought. We will view them as things of the past or things that come in the future or things that exist outside of us. But now, you can be sure that these things are among us, that is our old way, and these things are due to no longer reign among us as children of God.
Have no fear of satan or the adversary to God, for it is promised that all things are becoming new.
Have a renewed mind my friend.
Switchvues
I know that many people coming into maturity of spiritual things, even if it is slightly in the truth, have come to realize that satan is not a red-suited pitch fork holder in the underground of hell, as I mentioned in the message 'torment'. But perhaps, although they have matured in some measure, they still hold the idea of satan being an entity existing in the outer realm or physical world. That satan is personified as a 'he'. Some sort of dark essence that floats around in the physical realm and causes havoc like we see on television or a single dictator that has or will rule some nation with harsh evil. It is written in areas that satan comes quickly or satan is to move behind Christ, or satan falls from heaven, or satan rises up, or satan casts out, or satan desires, or satan fills the heart, or satan gets bruised, or satan gets an advantage, or satan is transformed into light, or satan buffets as a thorn in the side, or satan hinders, or people turn aside to follow satan, or people dwell in satans seat, or satan has a synagogue, or satan binds and loosens and steals and as crazy as it sounds, satan was a literal snake in the beginning of time. All of this, if not handled properly, can give the impression that satan in some way is a physical entity capable of moving among the created realm. That in some way satan can be seen with the physical eyes or felt with the other senses. In truth, satan is capable, but in a different manner than we may think, as we will soon see. Many are troubled and caught in between vues. They know satan cannot be known with the senses, but somehow their limited vue still holds the idea and treats satans existence as so. When we read these descriptions, it is very easy but dangerous to give satan a personification as a single being floating around in this created realm, somehow gaining the title of prince. When a car accident happens or a disease comes to a person or a storm floods a home, they say 'satan is really attacking us'. When we can't find our car keys or we lose all of our contacts on the phone or our computer crashes several times in a day, we think we are the victim of 'satans' successful mission of thwarting the will of God in our lives. Does this sound familiar?
What vue do we then take of satan? I cannot give you the fullest description of satan because I do not know all things as they are at the moment, but I can share with you the vue I have come to receive along this long, enduring road God has me on. I can probably give you a better description of what satan is not, rather than a complete description of what satan is. However, my attempt here will be to give you a foundational thought to keep and consider throughout your days as you approach satan face to face nearly every moment of your waking days. Sorry, I know that may sound hard and frightening to say you will face satan every moment of your waking day, but my hope is that by the end of the message you will get a better vue of the reality of satan and that hard thought will become easy and the burden of it light.
The word satan comes from a Greek word 'satanas', which is rooted in other words leading back to the Hebrew language. Rather than reiterating and explaining the part of each word given as we step back into the original language of the words that 'satanas' was brought out of, I noticed that each word carried with it the same common idea and perhaps we can just share all of the meanings and see them as a whole. Here are those words, 'accuser', 'opponent', 'adversary', 'withstander, 'enemy', 'attacker', and 'resister'. All of these words are excellent in describing satan and if you ever talk with me, you will most likely never hear me use the word satan, but rather I would likely use some of the descriptive words before mentioned. Why do I avoid the word satan? So that I do not put satan into the box of thought and trigger the preconceived idea that you may or may not already have. You most likely will not hear me gripe that 'satan' is attacking me when my wife and I are at odds. Yes, it is true that 'satan' is an element involved, but it is in a much different way or vue. May my words bring fresh thoughts and new visions of the reality of this 'enemy' or 'withstander' of God.
Of all the words used to describe satan down through history, I prefer using 'adversary' and 'opposer'. These words, in my vue and within my own experience, carry less of the preconceived ideas and are easier for me to carry along and speak about. What is an adversary? It is a force that opposes or works against or resists another force. It is an adverse or counter to a thing. If you take medication and find that you are allergic to the medication, you will experience an opposing reaction. Your body will resist the medication and you will have an adverse response to it. To be adverse means that within something there is contained an ingredient that opposes another. In a football game, one team is adverse to the other. One team contains within themselves the drive and force and energy to win, meanwhile, the other team contains within themselves a drive and force and energy to work against that win. As both teams face one another, those drives within themselves oppose or are adverse to one another. Once force counters another. They oppose one another. Adversity comes through response. If there is no response, there is no adversity. Keep this in mind.
Satan is the adverse force to the will, plan and purpose of God. Satan opposes the way and movement of God. Satan is a continuous friction to the reign of God. God is love and satan opposes love. God is peace and satan opposes peace. God gives and satan steals. This is something that most all agree on, right? Yet, is satan a being that floats around and causes havoc on humanity? It was interesting to me that Yeshua stood face to face with Peter, on his mission to die for the world, and as Peter withstood the plan that Yeshua was following, Yeshua told satan to get behind him. Peter opposed the plan of God and Yeshua referred to his opposition as satan. If Yeshua would have said 'get behind me Peter, because you are resisting the plan of my father', we would have no thought to question that statement and the word 'satan' would likely not have come to mind. But in our carnal thinking, we imagine satan was a being that could literally come stand behind Yeshua. What was the mind and thinking that drove Peter to be Gods adversary at that moment? It is easy to read Peter as opposing God at that moment, but very difficult to read that Peter was following the way of satan at that moment. Do you follow?
Consider your life for a moment. Consider your thoughts and your desires and your interests. Consider what distracts you and pulls you from the peace within your inner self. Consider the turmoil and toil and torment that arises within you day after day. Consider the temptation and draw to error that surfaces and springs up within you at any given moment of your waking day. Consider the force that you face nearly every waking moment. Do you remember that hard thought we talked about earlier? What is that force? What is that adversary to peace? What is that resister of love? What rises up to sit on the throne, in the temple of God which you are? Where is that throne and where is that temple?
Is it not in you? Is that adverse and resisting heart and mind not in you?
Is it not your own self? Your own carnal nature? Your own instinctive, fleshy, earthly minded nature? You are wired to love, but the nature you hold among this created realm opposes that original wiring. You are wired to give kindness and mercy and compassion, but that carnal thinking and carnal desire and carnal mind resists it. Where is satan? What is satan? How do we defeat satan? Think about it...
Satan is not outside of you. Satan is an adverse mind. Satan is an opposing force within man, that stands against God and desires to sit itself among the throne of the heart, in the temple of God which you are. This throne and temple are not the physical ones in the old city Jerusalem made with hands. No, it is the heart and mind and inner being made without hands. Satan is among each one of us. Satan will be destroyed when all things are fulfilled and God is all in all. When God is all in all, there is no room for an opposing thought or desire against God. Satan is removed and thwarted from the reigning position that is within your heart. Satan is cast from your heaven. Just as you are not to look here or there outside of you for the Christ to come, why then should we look outside of ourselves for satan? Satan needs to be fed in order to continue and reign, but as our thoughts, mind and desire feeds upon the living water and bread from heaven, satan or the opposing nature within us has no strength and no ability to resist God. Resist the adverse nature within you and starve it. Flee from the opposing thoughts that arise from your carnal and limited thinking. You do not need to run from satan with your feet, but run from satan with the new mind that was given into you. The self nature that is slowly destroying you and leading you into error is to be crushed by the new nature and new mind and new strength of Christ within you. This entire battle is within you. This entire battle is within me. The new heaven is within me. The new earth is within me. The end of the old world is within me. The dust which the serpent feeds upon as it crawls on its belly is you and me. We are the dust of the earth and the adverse mind feeds among us and within us all the days of our lives.
So then, you will not find me blaming my troubles on satan. You will not find me calling myself a victim of satans evil schemes. You will not hear me speak of satan as an entity outside of me or you. My old nature, my old thinking, my old desires are leading me along a road of destruction. This dying nature tricks us day after day. We are deceived by our own self. Our hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Isn't satan called the father of lies and the deceiver and liar from the beginning? From the beginning of our time, our adverse nature has been the most wicked and deceitful of all things. We are the host of God and our opposing nature is the host of the adversary of God.
Get behind thee satan says the anointed of God within me. You have nothing within me says the anointed of God. You cannot touch my right mind says the anointed of God. When I see your force among my thoughts and my desires and spilling out of my words, I will recognize my self as the resistance of God and I will not respond to you. Your power is dead among me, says the Christ of God within me. I am no longer a slave to fear, of which I find among my inner self, of which is the adversary to the faith of God. I do not have to fight you in any other way, than to starve your ways with the anointment of God (Christ) among my inner self. I only need to slay you with the sword of the spirit (mind) and keep watch as your rise up to crush my forehead. Yet the helmet of delivery and the breastplate of right ways, the belt of truth and walking with my feet in the peace of the good news that God is with me, these unseen things will protect and guide and conquer the enemy and opposing force with me.
Let there be no adversary found among us from this moment on. When it is found, God will surely reveal it to you and you can expect a battle until that adverse way is purged and cast out of you. Perhaps that battle may come through affliction or suffering or torment or pain. If my eye causes me to error or follow the way of the adversary, cast it out. Now of course, I wouldn't pluck my eye out, but God is instructing and encouraging us to put it from us. Do you follow?
By the way, 'satan', 'devil', 'beast', 'false prophet', 'dragon' 'angel of the bottomless pit', 'anti-Christ', 'evil one', 'god of this age', 'serpent', 'leviathon', 'man of sin', 'murderer', 'ruler of demons', 'serpent of old' and such terms are all descriptive of the very same nature. It is all one and the same and it is not very far from you. As long as we allow our carnal mind to rule, we will view these terms in a far different manner than we ought. We will view them as things of the past or things that come in the future or things that exist outside of us. But now, you can be sure that these things are among us, that is our old way, and these things are due to no longer reign among us as children of God.
Have no fear of satan or the adversary to God, for it is promised that all things are becoming new.
Have a renewed mind my friend.
Switchvues
