5. 三重战场
Chapter 10, 14
THE GIFT OF DISCERNMENT
The Holy Spirit will open up the timeless truths of the Bible; He will also speak to our inner man in dreams, visions and prophetic words. Yet, much of what God reveals must pass through the filter of our degree of purity of heart. Thus, if we will move in true discernment, our view of lifemust be purged of human thoughts and reactions. We must perceive life through the eyes of Christ.
TO DISCERN, YOU CANNOT JUDGE
We will never possess true discernment until we crucify our instincts to judge. Realistically, this can take months or even years of uprooting old thought-systems that have not been planted in the divine soil of faith and love for people. To appropriate the discernment which is in the “mind of Christ” (see 1 Corinthians 2:16), we must first find the heart of Christ.
(To love the LORD your God with all your heart)
The heart and love of Jesus is summed up in His own words: “I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47).
Spiritual discernment is the grace to see into the unseen. It is a gift of the Spirit to perceive the realm of the spirit. Its purpose is to understand the nature of that which is veiled. However, the first veil that must be removed is the veil over our own hearts. For the capacity to see into that which is in another’s heart comes from Christ revealing that which is in our own hearts. Before He reveals the sin of another, Jesus demands we grasp our own deep need of His mercy. Thus, out of the grace which we have received, we can compassionately minister grace to others. We will know thoroughly that the true gift of discernment is not a faculty of our minds.
Christ’s goal is to save, not judge. We are called to navigate the narrow and well-hidden path into the true nature of men’s needs. If we would truly help men, we must remember, we are following a Lamb.
A lamb is obedient, meek, always listen to Shepherd's voice, not man's voice
This foundation must be laid correctly, for in order to discern, you cannot react. To perceive, you must make yourself blind to what seems apparent. People may react to you, but you cannot react to them. You must always remain forgiving in nature, for the demons you cast out will challenge you, masquerading as the very voice of the person you seek to deliver. You must discern the difference between the oppressing spirit and the person oppressed.
Thus, Jesus prepared His disciples to be proactive in their forgiveness. Using Himself as their example, He taught, “Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him” (Luke 12:10). Jesus prepared His heart to forgive men before they ever sinned against Him. He knew His mission was to die for men, not condemn them.
Likewise, we are called to His mission as well. In His prayer to the Father, Jesus said, “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them” (John 17:18). We are called to die that others may live. Therefore, we must realize that before our perception develops, our love must mature until our normal attitude is one of forgiveness. Should God reveal to us the hearts of men and then call us to release them from captivity, we cannot react to what they say. As our perception becomes more like Christ Himself and the secrets of men’s hearts are revealed to us, we cannot even react to what they think.
If we do not move in divine forgiveness, we will walk in much deception. We will presume we have discernment when, in truth, we are seeing through the veil of a critical spirit. We must know our weaknesses, for if we are blind to our sins, what we assume we discern in men will merely be the reflection of ourselves. Indeed, if we do not move in love, we will actually become a menace to the body of Christ.
This is exactly what Jesus taught when He said: Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
—Matthew 7:1–5
You must develop trust with the person whom you are going to remove the speck in the eyes.. as eyes are sensitive and both need to trust each other
Repentance is the removal of the “logs” within our vision; it is the true beginning of seeing clearly. There are many who suppose they are receiving the Lord’s discernment concerning one thing or another. Perhaps in some things they are; only God knows. But many are simply judging others and calling it discernment. Jesus commanded us to judge not. The same eternal hand that wrote the Law on stones in the old covenant is writing the law of the kingdom on tablets of flesh today. This word to “not judge” is just as immutably final as His Ten Commandments. It is still God speaking.
THE GOAL IS TO SEE CLEARLY
The judgmental carnal mind always sees the image of itself in others. Without realizing it is seeing itself, it assumes it is perceiving others. Jesus refers to the person who judges as a “hypocrite.” The Lord is not saying we should totally stop thinking about people. He wants us to be able to help one another. The emphasis in Jesus’ command to “not judge” is summarized in His concluding remark: “First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” The way we help is not by judging but by seeing clearly. And we do not see clearly until we have been through deep and thorough repentance, until the instinct to judge after the flesh is uprooted.
We have seen that Jesus paralleled speaking to people about their sins with taking specks out of their eyes. The eye is the most tender, most sensitive part of the human body. How do you take a speck out of someone’s eye? Very carefully! First, you must win their trust. This means consistently demonstrating an attitude that does not judge, one that will not instinctively condemn. To help others, we must see clearly.
If you seek to have a heart that does not condemn, you must truly crucify your instinct to judge. Then you will have laid a true foundation for the gift of discernment, for you will have prepared your heart to receive the dreams, visions and insights from God. You will be unstained by human bias and corruption.
CASTING DOWN THE ACCUSER OF THE BRETHREN
Jesus calls us beyond the standards of “church as usual”; He calls us to reveal the life and power of the kingdom of God. What is the difference between the church and God’s kingdom? Those who seek first for God’s kingdom are love motivated people who are given to prayer. When they see a need, instead of judging, they intercede.
HOW THE KINGDOM COMES
Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night. Revelation 12:10
There will be an actual point in time when the “salvation,” “power” and “kingdom of God,” as well as the “authority of Christ,” are manifested in the earth. While we wait patiently for the fulfillment of that glorious event, the spirit of this eternal reality can be possessed any time a people determine to walk free of criticism and faultfinding, and turn their sights toward purity, love and prayer for each other.
There are God-ordained procedures to initiate correction within a church. These corrections should be done by “you who are spiritual . . . in a spirit of gentleness; . . . looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.” Your motive should be to “restore such a one” (Galatians 6:1). Accusations against an elder, though, should not even be received “except on the basis of two or three witnesses” (1 Timothy 5:19). The “witnesses” spoken of here are actual eye-witnesses, not merely “intuitive” witnesses people might have apart from hard and visible facts. All too often, these alleged “witnesses” are critical people manipulated by hell to destroy the harmony of a church with rumors and gossip.
When the scriptural approach to rectifying a situation is ignored, it opens the door to fault-finding, fleshly criticisms and judging. The spirit that exploits these sins, according to Revelation 12:10, is called the “accuser of our brethren.” Indeed, when the spirit of accusation and criticism is operative, the movement of the Holy Spirit in the church is greatly restricted: salvation are few, power is minimal, and spiritual authority is crippled. Such a church is in serious danger.
Certainly, correction is necessary in the church. Yet, to be truly anointed to bring Christ’s corrections to a church, one must be anointed with Christ’s redemptive motives. The Scriptures are plain, Jesus “always lives to make intercession for [the saints]” (Hebrews 7:25; see also Romans 8:34). The Son of God “did not come to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47). Likewise, God does not call us to judge one another, but to pray for one another. If we see a need in the body of Christ, our first reaction should be to intercede and not simply criticize. Our pattern must be to follow Christ in building and restoring,not to echo the accuser of the brethren in merely finding fault.
Many years ago I belonged to a national Christian organization that, in spite of its good points, had several serious problems. At that time I was pastoring a small church and I felt perhaps we should leave this group because of what was wrong.
Together, the congregation and I began to seek the Lord with prayer and periods of fasting for forty days. At the end of that time I wrote a list of complaints and, holding them before God, I prayed (somewhat self-righteously), “Lord, look at the errors in these people. Direct us, Lord, what should we do?”
Immediately the Lord replied, “Have you seen these things?”
“Yes, Lord,” I answered, “I have seen their sins.”
To which He said, “So also have I, but I died for them; you go and do likewise.”
From that day on, I found a grace from God to seek to be a source of life and prayer wherever I was serving God. If I truly wanted to be like Jesus, it would never again be enough to simply find fault; I would have to also become an intercessor whose motive was redemption.
You see, we will always be serving in churches where things are wrong. Our response to what we see defines how Christlike we are actually becoming. If we see weakness in the body of Christ, our call is to supply strength. If we see sin, our response is to be an example of virtue. When we discover fear, we must impart courage, and where there is worldliness, we must display holiness. Our call is to enter the place of intercession and stand there until the body of Christ is built up in that area.
IS THE DEVIL AT THE THRONE OF GOD?
Ephesians 2:6 tells us that we have been raised up and are seated “with [Christ] in the heavenly places.” Let us understand that, while our bodies and souls are quite fixed here upon earth, through the agency of the Holy Spirit, our spirits have been brought into direct fellowship with Christ in heaven. From this position, we can boldly approach God’s throne of grace and we can enter through prayer and worship into the true holy place of God (Hebrews 4:16; 10:19–20; see also Matthew 5:8; Colossians 3:1–4).
There are many Scriptures which support the truth of our positional seating with Christ. It is important for us to understand this, for we are going to examine a doctrine that has been a source of confusion for many saints: is Satan in heaven also? Is he actually standing before the throne of God?
Study the book of Revelation and in the description of God’s throne you will find no devil there (see chapter 4). Investigate Hebrews 12, and in the discourse concerning the heavenly Jerusalem, again you will see no devil in heaven. To further emphasize this, during a home meeting in Toronto, Canada, while we were in deep worship before the Lord, in varying degrees the Holy Spirit opened to each of us a view into the heavenly Jerusalem. We saw a realm wherein there was neither darkness nor death. Everything was baptized in the living glory of God. There simply was no need of the sun nor of any other light, for everything was alive and within everything was the outraying light of God. We beheld many things, but my point is that there was no darkness nor any devil in heaven.
Where then is Satan? Jude tells us that the devil and his demons are imprisoned, spiritually chained with “eternal bonds” to “darkness [reserved] for the judgment” (Jude 1:6). Satan is imprisoned under darkness. The thought that the heavenly Father, “in [whom] there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5), would countenance the devil intruding upon the eternal worship, accusing the very church for whom His Son had died, is unimaginable.
How then do we explain the Scriptures which allude to a devil in heaven? While we freely admit we do not know all the ways in which Satan accuses man before God, we do offer one solution.
First, there are three realms known as heaven in the Bible. The most commonly identified as such is the eternal abode of God, angels and the redeemed. Next, the word heaven is used to describe the sky. “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1 KJV). But when the Bible says that Satan is in heaven or the “heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12; Revelation 12:7–8; Luke 10:18), we believe it is with reference to the spirit realm, which because of sin and the fall of man also has been
invaded by darkness. This heaven is the spiritual territory from which Satan seeks to control the world. It would be foolish to assume we know more than we do about this dimension, but we know this: it is from here that Satan releases his war against the church.
If it is true that the devil is not in the highest heaven, how then does he accuse the saints before the throne of God? We began this discourse by explaining that Christ has positioned our spirits in Him before God’s throne. While our spirits connect us to God, our bodies and souls are here on earth. Although the devil does not have immediate access to God, he does have access to our thoughts and words. When we harbor sympathetic attitudes toward faultfinding, when we justify gossip and negative criticism, we are actually giving Satan the use of our mouths to accuse the saints before God!
We have wrongly assumed that our whispers spoken in darkness remained hidden even from God. We must realize that “all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13). Is it not written, “whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light” (Luke 12:3)? God, who is Light, indeed hears the voice of the accuser, even in the guarded confidences spoken to a spouse or friend.
GUARD YOUR TONGUE!
Much of what the Father supplies to the body of Christ is furnished through our confession. This is not simply our positive, premeditated confession expressed in prayer; it consists of everything that comes out of our mouths. Did not Christ Himself say men shall be judged for “every idle (or careless) word” that they speak (Matthew 12:36 KJV)?
Our words are the overflow of our hearts. Indeed, God has so structured life that our very words, whether they are spoken in faith or unbelief, play a determinant role in shaping our future. James tells us that the tongue “sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell” (James 3:6). If hell can use the tongue for evil, God certainly can use it for good. Scripture tells us, “The one who desires life, to love and see good days, must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit” (1 Peter3:10).
If we desire life and the blessing of love and good days, we must keep our tongues from speaking evil. We must use our words to support, love and protect each other. If we do, we will experience much growth and greater protection. However, if we are finding fault, criticizing and talebearing, the voice of the accuser is manifested, and we are judged for our idle and evil words. God looks at what we have said and gives us reality reality accordingly.
Consequently, we must come to understand that each of our thoughts, and even our most intimate conversations with others, are actually prayers we are offering to the Father who sees all things continually and in secret. These unaddressed prayers are just as much a part of our confession as our “Dear Lord” prayers, and they are just as influential. Our words about one another, as well as our words to one another, should carry with them the same sense of reverence as when we speak with God. For He is, indeed, listening.
OTHER TONGUES OR FLAMING TONGUES?
It is significant that when Isaiah saw the Lord (Isaiah 6), not only was there no devil in heaven, but the guilt he felt was due to his words. He said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips” (v. 5). The fact is, our criticisms of one another are the voice of Satan accusing the saints before God.
Isaiah’s lips were cleansed as they were touched by a burning coal taken from the altar of God. The closer we truly draw to God, the more guilt we shall feel for our unclean words. When the Holy Spirit was manifested upon Jesus, He came symbolically in the form of a dove. But when the Spirit was revealed at Pentecost, He appeared as flaming tongues of fire. Certain segments of Christianity have made speaking in “other tongues” a sign of the infilling of the Holy Spirit. For us, the issue shall not be speaking in foreign tongues, but flaming tongues—tongues which have been purified by the fire of God from the altar, tongues that are cleansed of faultfinding and criticisms.
CASTING DOWN THE ACCUSER
As followers of Jesus Christ we are called to overcome the accuser of the brethren. How do we accomplish this holy task? In Revelation 12:11, we see how the victorious church overcomes the accuser of the brethren. Therefore, let us study this text and let it unlock our victory.
And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. —Revelation 12:11
“The blood of the Lamb.” The Lord Jesus shed His blood to establish a new covenant between God and man. That covenant required Christ to offer Himself as a blameless lamb to God for mankind’s sins, wherein God would put upon Him the sins of us all.
Our role in this covenant is to accept and believe in what God has done. We are to abandon self-righteousness and put our trust in Christ’s righteousness. As a result, we attain an imparted righteousness that is unencumbered by religious pride.
Indeed, the blood covenant ransoms us from the accusations of Satan, while it also convicts us of our tendency to accuse those who sinned against us.
Thus, Christ’s shed blood delivers us from the realm of accusations and secures us in the life of God’s kingdom, for it requires we walk without pride and that we extend mercy to those who have sinned against us (see Matthew 6:12; 18:23–35; Romans 8:31–34).
“The word of their testimony.” This includes testifying to others about the works of God, but it is also much more. “The testimony of Jesus,” Scripture says, “is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10). In other words, to truly overcome the voice of accusation we must live and think prophetically.
We view each fellow disciple in Christ’s church not according to their fleshly weaknesses but according to the redemptive vision granted us by God’s transforming grace. Our testimony is a faith-declaration of God’s promise in Scripture: we are new creatures, we have received the Holy Spirit and the God of heaven is establishing His kingdom in our midst(see Matthew 24:14; Daniel 2:44).
We overcome the accuser by maintaining faith for each other,even when our brother or sister stumbles or falls. The word of our testimony is that God is good. He is faithful and He will fulfill what He has promised concerning us.
“They loved not our own lives, even unto death.” We cannot love our soul life more than our spirit life. Without doubt, our vision will be challenged.
The devil will raise up people who will come against us; even friends may turn against us. Yet, we cannot react in the flesh. We must maintain our love and faith, even when we face betrayal or injustice. Again, we cannot love our soul life more than our spirit life. Thus, we cannot overcome Satan and simultaneously harbor self-pity and sympathy for that which needs to be crucified within us. Our victory is consummated by our willingness to go even to death rather than betray our convictions of truth and love.
Paul said, “I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course” (Acts 20:24). Those who walk in true
spiritual maturity are unsympathetic toward their own wounds. They may hurt, but not withdraw. Yet, because they embrace Christ’s cross, they also walk in His kingdom in the resurrection power (see
Philippians 3:10–11).
The accuser must be cast down first in our minds. We cannot tolerate faultfinding and accusations. We must possess the very heart of God toward our brethren. The kingdom of God and the authority of His Christ will be seen in a people who are terminally committed to love-motivated prayer. For when they see a need,instead of becoming critical, they cast down the accuser of the brethren, and they pray!
THE GIFT OF DISCERNMENT
The Holy Spirit will open up the timeless truths of the Bible; He will also speak to our inner man in dreams, visions and prophetic words. Yet, much of what God reveals must pass through the filter of our degree of purity of heart. Thus, if we will move in true discernment, our view of lifemust be purged of human thoughts and reactions. We must perceive life through the eyes of Christ.
TO DISCERN, YOU CANNOT JUDGE
We will never possess true discernment until we crucify our instincts to judge. Realistically, this can take months or even years of uprooting old thought-systems that have not been planted in the divine soil of faith and love for people. To appropriate the discernment which is in the “mind of Christ” (see 1 Corinthians 2:16), we must first find the heart of Christ.
(To love the LORD your God with all your heart)
The heart and love of Jesus is summed up in His own words: “I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47).
Spiritual discernment is the grace to see into the unseen. It is a gift of the Spirit to perceive the realm of the spirit. Its purpose is to understand the nature of that which is veiled. However, the first veil that must be removed is the veil over our own hearts. For the capacity to see into that which is in another’s heart comes from Christ revealing that which is in our own hearts. Before He reveals the sin of another, Jesus demands we grasp our own deep need of His mercy. Thus, out of the grace which we have received, we can compassionately minister grace to others. We will know thoroughly that the true gift of discernment is not a faculty of our minds.
Christ’s goal is to save, not judge. We are called to navigate the narrow and well-hidden path into the true nature of men’s needs. If we would truly help men, we must remember, we are following a Lamb.
A lamb is obedient, meek, always listen to Shepherd's voice, not man's voice
This foundation must be laid correctly, for in order to discern, you cannot react. To perceive, you must make yourself blind to what seems apparent. People may react to you, but you cannot react to them. You must always remain forgiving in nature, for the demons you cast out will challenge you, masquerading as the very voice of the person you seek to deliver. You must discern the difference between the oppressing spirit and the person oppressed.
Thus, Jesus prepared His disciples to be proactive in their forgiveness. Using Himself as their example, He taught, “Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him” (Luke 12:10). Jesus prepared His heart to forgive men before they ever sinned against Him. He knew His mission was to die for men, not condemn them.
Likewise, we are called to His mission as well. In His prayer to the Father, Jesus said, “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them” (John 17:18). We are called to die that others may live. Therefore, we must realize that before our perception develops, our love must mature until our normal attitude is one of forgiveness. Should God reveal to us the hearts of men and then call us to release them from captivity, we cannot react to what they say. As our perception becomes more like Christ Himself and the secrets of men’s hearts are revealed to us, we cannot even react to what they think.
If we do not move in divine forgiveness, we will walk in much deception. We will presume we have discernment when, in truth, we are seeing through the veil of a critical spirit. We must know our weaknesses, for if we are blind to our sins, what we assume we discern in men will merely be the reflection of ourselves. Indeed, if we do not move in love, we will actually become a menace to the body of Christ.
This is exactly what Jesus taught when He said: Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
—Matthew 7:1–5
You must develop trust with the person whom you are going to remove the speck in the eyes.. as eyes are sensitive and both need to trust each other
Repentance is the removal of the “logs” within our vision; it is the true beginning of seeing clearly. There are many who suppose they are receiving the Lord’s discernment concerning one thing or another. Perhaps in some things they are; only God knows. But many are simply judging others and calling it discernment. Jesus commanded us to judge not. The same eternal hand that wrote the Law on stones in the old covenant is writing the law of the kingdom on tablets of flesh today. This word to “not judge” is just as immutably final as His Ten Commandments. It is still God speaking.
THE GOAL IS TO SEE CLEARLY
The judgmental carnal mind always sees the image of itself in others. Without realizing it is seeing itself, it assumes it is perceiving others. Jesus refers to the person who judges as a “hypocrite.” The Lord is not saying we should totally stop thinking about people. He wants us to be able to help one another. The emphasis in Jesus’ command to “not judge” is summarized in His concluding remark: “First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” The way we help is not by judging but by seeing clearly. And we do not see clearly until we have been through deep and thorough repentance, until the instinct to judge after the flesh is uprooted.
We have seen that Jesus paralleled speaking to people about their sins with taking specks out of their eyes. The eye is the most tender, most sensitive part of the human body. How do you take a speck out of someone’s eye? Very carefully! First, you must win their trust. This means consistently demonstrating an attitude that does not judge, one that will not instinctively condemn. To help others, we must see clearly.
If you seek to have a heart that does not condemn, you must truly crucify your instinct to judge. Then you will have laid a true foundation for the gift of discernment, for you will have prepared your heart to receive the dreams, visions and insights from God. You will be unstained by human bias and corruption.
CASTING DOWN THE ACCUSER OF THE BRETHREN
Jesus calls us beyond the standards of “church as usual”; He calls us to reveal the life and power of the kingdom of God. What is the difference between the church and God’s kingdom? Those who seek first for God’s kingdom are love motivated people who are given to prayer. When they see a need, instead of judging, they intercede.
HOW THE KINGDOM COMES
Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night. Revelation 12:10
There will be an actual point in time when the “salvation,” “power” and “kingdom of God,” as well as the “authority of Christ,” are manifested in the earth. While we wait patiently for the fulfillment of that glorious event, the spirit of this eternal reality can be possessed any time a people determine to walk free of criticism and faultfinding, and turn their sights toward purity, love and prayer for each other.
There are God-ordained procedures to initiate correction within a church. These corrections should be done by “you who are spiritual . . . in a spirit of gentleness; . . . looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.” Your motive should be to “restore such a one” (Galatians 6:1). Accusations against an elder, though, should not even be received “except on the basis of two or three witnesses” (1 Timothy 5:19). The “witnesses” spoken of here are actual eye-witnesses, not merely “intuitive” witnesses people might have apart from hard and visible facts. All too often, these alleged “witnesses” are critical people manipulated by hell to destroy the harmony of a church with rumors and gossip.
When the scriptural approach to rectifying a situation is ignored, it opens the door to fault-finding, fleshly criticisms and judging. The spirit that exploits these sins, according to Revelation 12:10, is called the “accuser of our brethren.” Indeed, when the spirit of accusation and criticism is operative, the movement of the Holy Spirit in the church is greatly restricted: salvation are few, power is minimal, and spiritual authority is crippled. Such a church is in serious danger.
Certainly, correction is necessary in the church. Yet, to be truly anointed to bring Christ’s corrections to a church, one must be anointed with Christ’s redemptive motives. The Scriptures are plain, Jesus “always lives to make intercession for [the saints]” (Hebrews 7:25; see also Romans 8:34). The Son of God “did not come to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47). Likewise, God does not call us to judge one another, but to pray for one another. If we see a need in the body of Christ, our first reaction should be to intercede and not simply criticize. Our pattern must be to follow Christ in building and restoring,not to echo the accuser of the brethren in merely finding fault.
Many years ago I belonged to a national Christian organization that, in spite of its good points, had several serious problems. At that time I was pastoring a small church and I felt perhaps we should leave this group because of what was wrong.
Together, the congregation and I began to seek the Lord with prayer and periods of fasting for forty days. At the end of that time I wrote a list of complaints and, holding them before God, I prayed (somewhat self-righteously), “Lord, look at the errors in these people. Direct us, Lord, what should we do?”
Immediately the Lord replied, “Have you seen these things?”
“Yes, Lord,” I answered, “I have seen their sins.”
To which He said, “So also have I, but I died for them; you go and do likewise.”
From that day on, I found a grace from God to seek to be a source of life and prayer wherever I was serving God. If I truly wanted to be like Jesus, it would never again be enough to simply find fault; I would have to also become an intercessor whose motive was redemption.
You see, we will always be serving in churches where things are wrong. Our response to what we see defines how Christlike we are actually becoming. If we see weakness in the body of Christ, our call is to supply strength. If we see sin, our response is to be an example of virtue. When we discover fear, we must impart courage, and where there is worldliness, we must display holiness. Our call is to enter the place of intercession and stand there until the body of Christ is built up in that area.
IS THE DEVIL AT THE THRONE OF GOD?
Ephesians 2:6 tells us that we have been raised up and are seated “with [Christ] in the heavenly places.” Let us understand that, while our bodies and souls are quite fixed here upon earth, through the agency of the Holy Spirit, our spirits have been brought into direct fellowship with Christ in heaven. From this position, we can boldly approach God’s throne of grace and we can enter through prayer and worship into the true holy place of God (Hebrews 4:16; 10:19–20; see also Matthew 5:8; Colossians 3:1–4).
There are many Scriptures which support the truth of our positional seating with Christ. It is important for us to understand this, for we are going to examine a doctrine that has been a source of confusion for many saints: is Satan in heaven also? Is he actually standing before the throne of God?
Study the book of Revelation and in the description of God’s throne you will find no devil there (see chapter 4). Investigate Hebrews 12, and in the discourse concerning the heavenly Jerusalem, again you will see no devil in heaven. To further emphasize this, during a home meeting in Toronto, Canada, while we were in deep worship before the Lord, in varying degrees the Holy Spirit opened to each of us a view into the heavenly Jerusalem. We saw a realm wherein there was neither darkness nor death. Everything was baptized in the living glory of God. There simply was no need of the sun nor of any other light, for everything was alive and within everything was the outraying light of God. We beheld many things, but my point is that there was no darkness nor any devil in heaven.
Where then is Satan? Jude tells us that the devil and his demons are imprisoned, spiritually chained with “eternal bonds” to “darkness [reserved] for the judgment” (Jude 1:6). Satan is imprisoned under darkness. The thought that the heavenly Father, “in [whom] there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5), would countenance the devil intruding upon the eternal worship, accusing the very church for whom His Son had died, is unimaginable.
How then do we explain the Scriptures which allude to a devil in heaven? While we freely admit we do not know all the ways in which Satan accuses man before God, we do offer one solution.
First, there are three realms known as heaven in the Bible. The most commonly identified as such is the eternal abode of God, angels and the redeemed. Next, the word heaven is used to describe the sky. “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1 KJV). But when the Bible says that Satan is in heaven or the “heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12; Revelation 12:7–8; Luke 10:18), we believe it is with reference to the spirit realm, which because of sin and the fall of man also has been
invaded by darkness. This heaven is the spiritual territory from which Satan seeks to control the world. It would be foolish to assume we know more than we do about this dimension, but we know this: it is from here that Satan releases his war against the church.
If it is true that the devil is not in the highest heaven, how then does he accuse the saints before the throne of God? We began this discourse by explaining that Christ has positioned our spirits in Him before God’s throne. While our spirits connect us to God, our bodies and souls are here on earth. Although the devil does not have immediate access to God, he does have access to our thoughts and words. When we harbor sympathetic attitudes toward faultfinding, when we justify gossip and negative criticism, we are actually giving Satan the use of our mouths to accuse the saints before God!
We have wrongly assumed that our whispers spoken in darkness remained hidden even from God. We must realize that “all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13). Is it not written, “whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light” (Luke 12:3)? God, who is Light, indeed hears the voice of the accuser, even in the guarded confidences spoken to a spouse or friend.
GUARD YOUR TONGUE!
Much of what the Father supplies to the body of Christ is furnished through our confession. This is not simply our positive, premeditated confession expressed in prayer; it consists of everything that comes out of our mouths. Did not Christ Himself say men shall be judged for “every idle (or careless) word” that they speak (Matthew 12:36 KJV)?
Our words are the overflow of our hearts. Indeed, God has so structured life that our very words, whether they are spoken in faith or unbelief, play a determinant role in shaping our future. James tells us that the tongue “sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell” (James 3:6). If hell can use the tongue for evil, God certainly can use it for good. Scripture tells us, “The one who desires life, to love and see good days, must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit” (1 Peter3:10).
If we desire life and the blessing of love and good days, we must keep our tongues from speaking evil. We must use our words to support, love and protect each other. If we do, we will experience much growth and greater protection. However, if we are finding fault, criticizing and talebearing, the voice of the accuser is manifested, and we are judged for our idle and evil words. God looks at what we have said and gives us reality reality accordingly.
Consequently, we must come to understand that each of our thoughts, and even our most intimate conversations with others, are actually prayers we are offering to the Father who sees all things continually and in secret. These unaddressed prayers are just as much a part of our confession as our “Dear Lord” prayers, and they are just as influential. Our words about one another, as well as our words to one another, should carry with them the same sense of reverence as when we speak with God. For He is, indeed, listening.
OTHER TONGUES OR FLAMING TONGUES?
It is significant that when Isaiah saw the Lord (Isaiah 6), not only was there no devil in heaven, but the guilt he felt was due to his words. He said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips” (v. 5). The fact is, our criticisms of one another are the voice of Satan accusing the saints before God.
Isaiah’s lips were cleansed as they were touched by a burning coal taken from the altar of God. The closer we truly draw to God, the more guilt we shall feel for our unclean words. When the Holy Spirit was manifested upon Jesus, He came symbolically in the form of a dove. But when the Spirit was revealed at Pentecost, He appeared as flaming tongues of fire. Certain segments of Christianity have made speaking in “other tongues” a sign of the infilling of the Holy Spirit. For us, the issue shall not be speaking in foreign tongues, but flaming tongues—tongues which have been purified by the fire of God from the altar, tongues that are cleansed of faultfinding and criticisms.
CASTING DOWN THE ACCUSER
As followers of Jesus Christ we are called to overcome the accuser of the brethren. How do we accomplish this holy task? In Revelation 12:11, we see how the victorious church overcomes the accuser of the brethren. Therefore, let us study this text and let it unlock our victory.
And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. —Revelation 12:11
“The blood of the Lamb.” The Lord Jesus shed His blood to establish a new covenant between God and man. That covenant required Christ to offer Himself as a blameless lamb to God for mankind’s sins, wherein God would put upon Him the sins of us all.
Our role in this covenant is to accept and believe in what God has done. We are to abandon self-righteousness and put our trust in Christ’s righteousness. As a result, we attain an imparted righteousness that is unencumbered by religious pride.
Indeed, the blood covenant ransoms us from the accusations of Satan, while it also convicts us of our tendency to accuse those who sinned against us.
Thus, Christ’s shed blood delivers us from the realm of accusations and secures us in the life of God’s kingdom, for it requires we walk without pride and that we extend mercy to those who have sinned against us (see Matthew 6:12; 18:23–35; Romans 8:31–34).
“The word of their testimony.” This includes testifying to others about the works of God, but it is also much more. “The testimony of Jesus,” Scripture says, “is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10). In other words, to truly overcome the voice of accusation we must live and think prophetically.
We view each fellow disciple in Christ’s church not according to their fleshly weaknesses but according to the redemptive vision granted us by God’s transforming grace. Our testimony is a faith-declaration of God’s promise in Scripture: we are new creatures, we have received the Holy Spirit and the God of heaven is establishing His kingdom in our midst(see Matthew 24:14; Daniel 2:44).
We overcome the accuser by maintaining faith for each other,even when our brother or sister stumbles or falls. The word of our testimony is that God is good. He is faithful and He will fulfill what He has promised concerning us.
“They loved not our own lives, even unto death.” We cannot love our soul life more than our spirit life. Without doubt, our vision will be challenged.
The devil will raise up people who will come against us; even friends may turn against us. Yet, we cannot react in the flesh. We must maintain our love and faith, even when we face betrayal or injustice. Again, we cannot love our soul life more than our spirit life. Thus, we cannot overcome Satan and simultaneously harbor self-pity and sympathy for that which needs to be crucified within us. Our victory is consummated by our willingness to go even to death rather than betray our convictions of truth and love.
Paul said, “I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course” (Acts 20:24). Those who walk in true
spiritual maturity are unsympathetic toward their own wounds. They may hurt, but not withdraw. Yet, because they embrace Christ’s cross, they also walk in His kingdom in the resurrection power (see
Philippians 3:10–11).
The accuser must be cast down first in our minds. We cannot tolerate faultfinding and accusations. We must possess the very heart of God toward our brethren. The kingdom of God and the authority of His Christ will be seen in a people who are terminally committed to love-motivated prayer. For when they see a need,instead of becoming critical, they cast down the accuser of the brethren, and they pray!