SATAN'S LIE: You are
unqualified. Surely, someone else would be better equipped, have more
knowledge, are more spiritual than you. You’re not educated enough – smart
enough – old enough – young enough – wise enough – rich enough – well enough –
pretty enough – charismatic enough – can’t speak well enough – _____________
(fill in the blank enough) – you’re just not good enough.
COUNTER ACTION: REMEMBER
what the LORD said, “Who has made man's mouth? or who makes the dumb, or deaf,
or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I the LORD? (Exodus 4:11) and that, “With
men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26) Is
any thing too hard for the LORD? (Genesis 18:14) REPEAT God’s Word to
satan. TELL satan, “I am complete in Christ and through Him I am lacking
nothing. God has the power to use the least likely person and He does that
because it gives Him greater glory! You use the mighty to do mighty things. God
uses the lowly to do mighty things. So, who has the greater power and who makes
the impossible, possible? The answer forever will be: My God!
A friend of mine asked,
“Why do we choose to believe satan over God?” I thought that was a very good
question. Why do we choose to believe satan and not God? So, I came up with a
few thoughts to answer that question and each can be applied to the lie we are
studying:
1) I
would say one reason has to do with our sinful nature. We will always be drawn
to being negative over being positive "because" we are sinners and we
will always lean toward unbelief over belief when it comes to God. Our flesh,
our old nature is always at war with truth and what is right.
When God asks us to do
something our sinful nature causes us to look inward and say, “I can’t!”
instead of looking at God and saying, “Through Christ, I can!” We are showing a
lack of faith and an immaturity that does not take God at His Word. Think about
some of the patriarchs of the Bible. When they chose to believe God, He did
great and mighty things through them. The first example that comes to mind is
the teenage boy who went up against a giant of a man with just a sling and few
stones. He didn’t stop to think about whether he could do this or not, he just
reacted with all confidence that God was on his side. He didn’t even give satan
the opportunity to change his mind. If David had hesitated for a moment, if he
had stopped to ponder about what he was about to do, satan would have bombarded
him with the fiery darts of unbelief. He would have realized that what he was
about to do was humanly impossible and he would have been defeated before he
even got to the battlefield. I’m so glad he didn’t, aren’t you? He is just one
of the many examples of what God can do in the life of his children when we are
fully convinced that we can do ALL things through Christ.
2) Many
times satan skillfully shoots a lie into our mind and then we start telling
ourselves the lie (because we think it was our idea) or satan tells the lie
through someone else. This does even more damage -- especially, when it comes
from family and worse yet, our brothers and sisters in Christ. But, regardless
of how the untruth came about, satan will see to it that we continue to dwell
on those thoughts until we confirm what we have believed by sabotaging our own
efforts when we do attempt to do a work for the Lord.
It makes it more
difficult to believe that God can use us when we’ve already bought into all the
lies. It’s hard to break free from this way of thinking when we have practiced
it for years. This tells me that we have got to change our way of thinking and
we’ve got to start NOW. We must start replacing the devil’s lies with God’s
truth (like we have been doing with the “Counter Action”) and we must do as
Paul instructs: “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)
If we don’t start using
these tools we will continue to have the “glass half empty” mentality and will
never be fully used of God. We will surely miss out on the blessings that
complete obedience brings.
3) Sometimes,
it makes it easier on us to believe the devil. It keeps us from having to
overcome an obstacle and overcoming always takes a lot of effort.
By nature, we all have a
selfish streak and many times when God asks us to do something our first
response may be, “What will it cost me? What will I have to give up?” We don’t
stop to think about what this will do for others and we certainly aren’t
thinking about the glory this will bring God. We find ourselves thinking of our
own comfort over the needs of others.
What if Joseph had dwelt
on God’s plan with the realization that getting to the place God wanted him to
be was going to cost him so much. What if he had considered himself only a
slave now and that God could no longer use him? In the end Joseph knew that the
pain and suffering he experienced was more than worth the price. Through God, he
was able to save many alive, including the lives of his own family.
What if Jesus’ disciples
had stopped to count the cost of taking the gospel to a lost and dying world?
The majority of them were beaten and stabbed, beheaded, sawn into, eaten by
lions, and crucified, but it did not matter to them whether they were educated
enough, wise enough, or worthy enough. All they knew was what we know…that
Jesus came to pay a debt He didn’t owe because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay
and the lost had to be told. I am so thankful that they pushed on to do the
will of God despite their human frailties. It is because of their obedience
that we know who Christ is and we have God’s written Word in our hands.
4) For
a non-believer it would relieve them of what they feel is a huge burden…living
for and answering to a holy and righteous God.
For quite a number of
years now, God has given me many opportunities to witness to atheists and
agnostics through online forums and I have learned much about the way they
think. Now, I know that there is no such thing as an atheist because God has
given light to every man to know He exists, He has written His law on our
hearts to know right from wrong, and all of creation is a testament to His
existence. It is plain and simple and it all comes down to this…it is a heart
problem. They abhor the idea of submitting to God so they have allowed
themselves to buy into satan’s lie. They have become convinced that if they
come to Christ they will become His slave and will have to give up all their
freedom. They love the pleasures of this life and they don’t want anyone
telling them any different. They get angry if any light is shed on the darkness
they so love.
To further convince
themselves, they blamed God when they got hurt by people who are “religious”.
They hold Him accountable for the action of others (others who may not even be
saved) and they try to find “so called” errors in the Bible to convince them
that the Bible is not the Word of God.
If I had not heeded God’s
call to witness to these individuals I would not know how to witness to my own
daughter who now claims to be agnostic and has married an atheist. I could have
said, “But, God, I can’t! I’m not educated enough. They seem to be so intelligent
because they’re always so scientific in their speech. They seem to know more of
God’s Word than I do.”
But, no, I did not
hesitate. I jumped in the deep end and found that God taught me how to swim and
glory to God, swim I did!
5) And
last, but not least, it is due to ignorance…our lack of knowledge and
understanding of God, His character, and His ways.
I remember my own battles
when God first started calling me to the mission field at the age of fourteen.
Satan immediately bombarded me with his deceitful lies. “You’re not good
enough. You’re too young. You’re not educated enough. I think God has made a
mistake. He can’t use a poor girl like you.” The sad part is that I don’t ever
remember being told that satan would attack like this. I knew that he was
behind the temptations to drink, do drugs, smoke, fornicate, to commit
adultery, and theft, but I was unaware of his tactics using subtle lies to
discourage us. As a matter of fact, I had no idea that he was the perpetrator
and the root cause of my thoughts.
But, satan doesn’t do
this to just little ‘ole us. He’s been playing this game for a long time. Remember
Moses…he started off his service for God after being on the backside of the
desert for 40 years. When God approached Moses and told him what He wanted him
to do, Moses said, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore (in
times past), nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of
speech, and of a slow tongue.” (Exodus 4:10) Many times we judge Moses for
his unbelief, but remember, in that moment, we most likely know more about God
than Moses did...which brings me to my point…
We have the written Word
of God. We should know the tricks of the devil and we should know the power of
God. We are without excuse. Only when we read the Word and study it, can we get
a better understanding of the way God does things. When we learn of God through
His Word we know that He always uses the least of us to do His greatest work.
Using a shepherd who was slow in speech gave God greater glory than the Moses
who lived in a palace.
Moses may have doubted
God in the beginning, but he did accept the task, and we all know that Moses
was not the same man at the end of his life that he was when it all began. God
had given him on the job training. He had lead millions. He walked with God,
sought after God, and He talked with the God who had made man’s mouth. God used
the most unlikely to do the impossible.
______________________________________________________________________
Satan is sly. He tries to
get us to disqualify ourselves, bring discouragement, and cause us to quit
before we even get started. And his tactics are clever indeed, because as usual
there's a big grain of truth amidst the lies. Yes, it is true! We are ALL unqualified
to do anything for God and none of us are worthy, but despite all our
shortcomings, sins and lack of qualification in our own eyes, God can still
work through us to bless others. All he needs is a willing, humble, obedient
heart. If we sit there and do nothing we will remain unqualified. He qualifies
us at the exact moment we step up and say, “Here am I Lord, use me.” You’ve
heard the old saying and it still stands true, “God doesn’t call the qualified.
He qualifies the called.”
Dear Friend, if God is calling you to do something for Him don’t give place to the
devil and miss out on the perfect plan God has just for you. Say with Paul, “And
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath ENABLED ME, for that he counted
me faithful, putting me into the ministry.” (1 Tim. 1:12) and then trust
God to enable YOU.
Because of Christ,
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