Lie Number One

My gosh this is a tough one and a strange place to start on a series of blogs on spiritual warfare but, as mentioned in my last, one of the key elements to our  warfare is being "not unaware" of the Devils schemes. So as a preparation for our warfare I think its important to expose a few lies so we can fight in the clear open air rather than in the fog of deceit.

Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others ~ Phil 2:4


You are not the most important person in this battle. The first poisonous lie Satan slipped into the well back in Eden was to elevate our own opinion of ourselves. Firstly he used his argument (by comparing us with God) to put us on an equal footing with God (and here the enmity was established) and then he made our interests separate from Gods. This was never the case, our best interests have always lain with Gods interests. Later in the passage I quoted from, we see that the first quality of Jesus, the defining characteristic that qualified him to be THE supreme champion in this holy war, was that although he was god he did not consider equality with God something to be be grasped. In essence; he was not thinking of himself.

The beauty of this lie is that it is so bold, so outrageous that we would all disqualify ourselves from having partaken of it. Who among us thinks we are equal with God? It would take a very courageous soul to declare that and mean it! And yet its the fact that we would disqualify ourselves from believing this lie that makes us less likely to be on our guard against its more subtle forms. How many Christians could truly say they live in a way that is exempt from promoting our own interests above those of God. A preoccupation with our own feelings and our own circumstances is often serving this lie and is a major strategy of the Devils to keep us from addressing the battle at hand.

I was bought up short on this earlier in the week when I was listening to a track by the Sudanese rapper and former child soldier Emmanuel Jal . I confess I know little of the back story of this man. I acquired his album through a friend and had only really half listened to it. The track is called Emma and starts with a dedication to a lady named Emma McCune. The Chorus goes "What would I be, if Emma never rescued me?". The song infers that he was not only rescued from his life as a child soldier but also from Starvation. I thought to myself what kind of person does that, dedicates themselves to rescuing people in dangerous situations and why do I spend 99% of my time worrying about, concentrating on my  own "problems" and feelings. I must admit it makes me feel slightly ashamed when I think how lucky I am, how grateful I should be and how little I do for others.

It strikes me that this overblown view of our own importance, no matter how subtle it is, is the first line of resistance from the enemy. I don't think spiritual warfare should take the form of a defensive mentality, seeing something going wrong with our car as a form of spiritual attack from Satan, but it should be taking the fight to him (at least at times it should) looking for injustices to fight and hopeless people to restore to Gods love.

The greatest commandment (Matt 22:37-40) was three fold. I view it as a triangle. Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul, mind and strength is at the top, loving your neighbour and yourself are both on the bottom at opposite corners, on the same level and linked by love. This is why the command to look to others needs as well as our own is SO important. It stops us navel gazing and paradoxically our own true needs are best served when we serve each other.