A few thoughts on the identification of the Devil:
Many of us have suffered through our "devil behind every bush" period and even the church, a few decades past, held an over the top, unhealthy fascination and concentration on evil spirits.
I believe as we move into the realm and age of the "mature son" Satan has less preeminence and we realize that God's hand is behind everything that occurs in our lives and in the world about us. Our focus is changed as we no longer blame everything on Satan. Instead of seeing the Devil every where and involved in everything negative, we know the Father's hand is at work and we need but find our place in His workings to set our personal world and the world about us free through the mercy and love of Christ within us.
With regard to some of our circumstances we often find ourselves mistakenly fighting the curse of Satan when in reality we should be yielding to the rod of the Father. God always deals differently with His sons and He is teaching us much by the things we must suffer.
And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. (Hbr 12:5-14)
It seems I have enjoyed much greater peace and growth since I realized every thing comes by way of His hand and He is in the business of perfecting me. I now quote from Paul Mueller as to possibly a more mature view of the devil.
There is another rod of God that concerns us: it is the Lord’s rod of discipline and correction. Job referred to this rod when he said, ‘Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them (Job 21:7-9). As we look about us in the world today, we can see that the wicked live just as Job said they did, without the rod of God in their lives. The wicked enjoy wealth and the power which that wealth brings. They live the so-called ‘good life,’ for their lives are free of the Lord’s rod of discipline and correction. But it is not so with the chosen saints of the Lord! Our lives are wondrously and strangely predestined of our Father to attain to the fullness of sonship in Christ through the discipline of our trials.
Throughout our journey in this life, with every step we take, we will see the rod of God in our lives. At times, our lives will be interrupted by a strange set of circumstances that are unique and unexplainable. But we must know that our loving Father predestined us to the adoption of sons, and His rod is that set of disciplinary circumstances in our lives designed to lead us to the fullness of the life of Christ (Rom. 8:29). Others may live in abundant prosperity and health, enjoying the things of this world, but we are being disciplined by the rod of the Lord, and are separated unto Him for His holy purposes. If we are truly called and chosen of our Father to become manifest sons of God at this time, we must experience His strange and unique rods, including the rod of selection and separation as well as His rod of discipline.
The chastisement of Father’s rod is unique to true sons. All the sons of God are now going through some form of chastisement, or will soon experience it. The prophet declared, ‘The Lord’s voice crieth unto the city (the heavenly Jerusalem): hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it’ (Mic. 6:9). When the Lord applies His rod of correction to our lives, it is an indication that He wants to teach us something wonderful and important. The Lord’s rod brings a message to us, therefore we should hear the message of the rod. In every trial, He is doing something wonderful in our lives! When a strange form of discipline unto correction comes our way, we will then reply to our Father, ‘Abba, Father, what lesson do you want me to learn through this experience?’ Father has a rich, new message for us in every application of the rod, a message we could not receive in any other circumstance, so we are admonished to ‘hear ye the rod.’
Furthermore, we should not only hear the message of the rod, but we also should understand ‘who hath appointed it.’ The rod of correction, that must come into the life of every true son, is that experience that will perfect us and bring us into the fullness of the life of Christ. By the wisdom of the mind of Christ we will recognize the chastisements in our lives as the rod of God, and not Satan’s works. The devil would rather keep us living in constant ecstasy, and our minds thus dulled to the voice of the Lord. Satan does not want us to be perfected and would not send these tests and trials into our lives! But God is applying His rod to our lives to keep us alert and aware of His voice and leadings, and to perfect us and conform us to His image and likeness. We have grown spiritually beyond the doctrines of the old order. Now, we no longer see the devil in our lives. The Lord has taken the devil out of our minds, out of our doctrines, and out of our lives. Now we know the truth! Now we know "It is GOD which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." (Paul Mueller)
This is often a tough one to comprehend and I would be remiss if I said I see it all clearly. However Satan and demons have diminished greatly in my eyes as far as my personal life. There are still many battles I suffer but it seems "Satan" and my "carnal nature" are pretty much synonymous as far as the enemy.
Sometimes I think much of what we battle when we see the Devil and his minions all about us are but what might be described as "vain imaginations" ............ doesn't sound quite so ominous when described as such and thus maybe easier to dismiss.
It just so happens that before falling asleep last night I was thinking that it might well be the serpent that met Eve in the garden was a "vain imagination." Then this morning I ran across this by Jane Leade when researching "serpent" and "vain imaginations"
Paul said, "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual wickedness in high places" --Ephesians 6:12 What are these rulers of the darkness of this world? Perhaps not what you may think. "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" --II Corinthians 10:4&5 The battleground is the heaven of our skull, our Golgotha, and the enemy is the reasoning mind and all the vain imaginations brought forth from the reasoning mind. What other ruler of the darkness of this world has so ruled over men and nations through their minds than king reason? What has alienated men but darkened minds? Thus we need for our sun of reason to cease to shine, our moon of the senses to be clothed with sackcloth, we need every starry imagination to fall to earth like untimely fruit, and then shall we see the sign of the Son of Man coming in our new heavens with great power and glory. But it has to be fought and won first in our heavens, that is, in us. (Leade)
God bless,
Jack
Many of us have suffered through our "devil behind every bush" period and even the church, a few decades past, held an over the top, unhealthy fascination and concentration on evil spirits.
I believe as we move into the realm and age of the "mature son" Satan has less preeminence and we realize that God's hand is behind everything that occurs in our lives and in the world about us. Our focus is changed as we no longer blame everything on Satan. Instead of seeing the Devil every where and involved in everything negative, we know the Father's hand is at work and we need but find our place in His workings to set our personal world and the world about us free through the mercy and love of Christ within us.
With regard to some of our circumstances we often find ourselves mistakenly fighting the curse of Satan when in reality we should be yielding to the rod of the Father. God always deals differently with His sons and He is teaching us much by the things we must suffer.
And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. (Hbr 12:5-14)
It seems I have enjoyed much greater peace and growth since I realized every thing comes by way of His hand and He is in the business of perfecting me. I now quote from Paul Mueller as to possibly a more mature view of the devil.
There is another rod of God that concerns us: it is the Lord’s rod of discipline and correction. Job referred to this rod when he said, ‘Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them (Job 21:7-9). As we look about us in the world today, we can see that the wicked live just as Job said they did, without the rod of God in their lives. The wicked enjoy wealth and the power which that wealth brings. They live the so-called ‘good life,’ for their lives are free of the Lord’s rod of discipline and correction. But it is not so with the chosen saints of the Lord! Our lives are wondrously and strangely predestined of our Father to attain to the fullness of sonship in Christ through the discipline of our trials.
Throughout our journey in this life, with every step we take, we will see the rod of God in our lives. At times, our lives will be interrupted by a strange set of circumstances that are unique and unexplainable. But we must know that our loving Father predestined us to the adoption of sons, and His rod is that set of disciplinary circumstances in our lives designed to lead us to the fullness of the life of Christ (Rom. 8:29). Others may live in abundant prosperity and health, enjoying the things of this world, but we are being disciplined by the rod of the Lord, and are separated unto Him for His holy purposes. If we are truly called and chosen of our Father to become manifest sons of God at this time, we must experience His strange and unique rods, including the rod of selection and separation as well as His rod of discipline.
The chastisement of Father’s rod is unique to true sons. All the sons of God are now going through some form of chastisement, or will soon experience it. The prophet declared, ‘The Lord’s voice crieth unto the city (the heavenly Jerusalem): hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it’ (Mic. 6:9). When the Lord applies His rod of correction to our lives, it is an indication that He wants to teach us something wonderful and important. The Lord’s rod brings a message to us, therefore we should hear the message of the rod. In every trial, He is doing something wonderful in our lives! When a strange form of discipline unto correction comes our way, we will then reply to our Father, ‘Abba, Father, what lesson do you want me to learn through this experience?’ Father has a rich, new message for us in every application of the rod, a message we could not receive in any other circumstance, so we are admonished to ‘hear ye the rod.’
Furthermore, we should not only hear the message of the rod, but we also should understand ‘who hath appointed it.’ The rod of correction, that must come into the life of every true son, is that experience that will perfect us and bring us into the fullness of the life of Christ. By the wisdom of the mind of Christ we will recognize the chastisements in our lives as the rod of God, and not Satan’s works. The devil would rather keep us living in constant ecstasy, and our minds thus dulled to the voice of the Lord. Satan does not want us to be perfected and would not send these tests and trials into our lives! But God is applying His rod to our lives to keep us alert and aware of His voice and leadings, and to perfect us and conform us to His image and likeness. We have grown spiritually beyond the doctrines of the old order. Now, we no longer see the devil in our lives. The Lord has taken the devil out of our minds, out of our doctrines, and out of our lives. Now we know the truth! Now we know "It is GOD which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." (Paul Mueller)
This is often a tough one to comprehend and I would be remiss if I said I see it all clearly. However Satan and demons have diminished greatly in my eyes as far as my personal life. There are still many battles I suffer but it seems "Satan" and my "carnal nature" are pretty much synonymous as far as the enemy.
Sometimes I think much of what we battle when we see the Devil and his minions all about us are but what might be described as "vain imaginations" ............ doesn't sound quite so ominous when described as such and thus maybe easier to dismiss.
It just so happens that before falling asleep last night I was thinking that it might well be the serpent that met Eve in the garden was a "vain imagination." Then this morning I ran across this by Jane Leade when researching "serpent" and "vain imaginations"
Paul said, "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual wickedness in high places" --Ephesians 6:12 What are these rulers of the darkness of this world? Perhaps not what you may think. "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" --II Corinthians 10:4&5 The battleground is the heaven of our skull, our Golgotha, and the enemy is the reasoning mind and all the vain imaginations brought forth from the reasoning mind. What other ruler of the darkness of this world has so ruled over men and nations through their minds than king reason? What has alienated men but darkened minds? Thus we need for our sun of reason to cease to shine, our moon of the senses to be clothed with sackcloth, we need every starry imagination to fall to earth like untimely fruit, and then shall we see the sign of the Son of Man coming in our new heavens with great power and glory. But it has to be fought and won first in our heavens, that is, in us. (Leade)
God bless,
Jack
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