Precious beloved saints and fellow heirs of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Let’s look at what might be a “stronghold” of the enemy in Jesus’ church. You may think to yourself, “How can the enemy have a stronghold in God’s church?” The answer is we allow him to.
We will start from the beginning with a brief review. God, The Most high Creator/sustainer made everything and placed man and woman—Adam and Eve in a beautiful garden. Adam and Eve were created dependent on God. They did not know “good from evil”—they only knew God. God was their all. They both chose to be self-dependent—they chose to know “good from evil” on their own, separate from God. They ate the fruit they were instructed not to eat. The Bible describes Adam and Eve’s--our condition through these words,
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23
This condition means we are separate from God. At first, they both enjoyed God’s presence, but after they chose to depend on self—separation from God resulted.
Let’s see how the Father chose to fix this problem. The Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ, fully God who became fully man to express His love for us. He chose to become man—the ultimate expression of humility.
So, the Father sent Jesus for us. He lived a perfect life. He died as an evil-doer—a man. Then, He rose again to life. Jesus became God in a receivable form for us.
Actually, the Bible says more about our condition,
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.” Ephesians 2:1-2
The Bible describes our condition of separation from God as dead. The Bible also says that not only are we dead, but the enemy intentionally seeks to keep us dead.
“And even if the gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:3-4
According to God’s word, we are dead and incapable of seeing the truth of Christ in our self-dependence and the enemy intentionally seeks to keep us in this condition. The question is, “Can we, in our condition of death, cause ourselves to become alive and open our own eyes to see the truth of Jesus?” Clearly, we see the answer…”No, we cannot.”
God, through His love and grace and mercy and power, chooses to “draw” us to Jesus. How does this happen? This happens by the power of God, not man. So, we—the dead are drawn to Jesus. We then see the truth of His love. We respond to His grace. We receive God in His receivable form—Jesus. Then Jesus gives His Holy Spirit to live in us.
Unfortunately, after the Father has awakened us to truth and brought eternal life into our lives and hearts, and poured His Holy Spirit in us, we can stumble back into Adam and Eve’s choice—we return to self, to self-dependence. It’s as if we say to our gracious loving God, “Thank you Father for opening our eyes and unlocking our ears to the truth of Jesus. Thank you for the power of the Holy Spirit. Even so, we will take it from here.” In other words, we attempt to “add” our own effort to God’s work to save us. Maybe you’re thinking to yourself, “There is no way I am doing that.”
I thought the same thing until the father graciously opened my eyes to my pride. You see, to me, ministry and “working for God” became my identity. I sought to “please” God through my works—my effort. Here is the truth: we have received every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus in heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3). In Christ, we are righteous before God.
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God.”
2 Corinthians 5:21
In Christ, we stand “fully pleasing” before God. Let this truth sink in. We cannot “do” anything for God in our energy. It is He who works in and through us. Our role is to surrender in humility—returning to the utter dependence Adam had in the beginning. Only now in Christ, we have the added blessing of God living in us. Adam walked with God in the cool of the evening. Better yet, we walk in God and Him in us. Praise God!
So what is the “stronghold” of the enemy in Jesus’ church? It is believing the lie that we can work in and through our self-dependence to somehow please God or even cover our sin. Jesus made this clear, when it comes to pleasing God, “It is finished.” Whatever was required for us to please God was done by Jesus. He did the work we could not and cannot do. Now, we humbly surrender every moment to Jesus. Jesus is life. His grace empowers us to live--to obey. To put it another way, Jesus Himself defined life as fully knowing the Father and Himself.
“And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou sent.” John 3:17
I have been convicted by God of offering “crumbs” of my own pride and effort to people—all the while believing that this was God’s plan. People do not need our white-knuckling, try-harder, self-dependent efforts—that is not genuine Christianity, it is merely religion. No, people need (we need and His church needs) the living water and bread of life which is Jesus.
Father, we ask you to fill us with the humility of Jesus Christ to fully live in a deep love relationship with you through utter dependence on your Holy Spirit that we may offer Jesus to this world, not the crumbs of self-dependence. Thank you for life. Thank you for Jesus.
Compelled to pray and desperate for God, Steve
