For every war there is a battlefield. The Merriam-Webster dictionary describes the battlefield as:
1 : a place where a battle is fought 2 : an area of conflict
For the christian the battlefield is the mind. It is in the realm of the mind that we reason, make decisions and act on them. It is in the realm of the mind where our motives and feelings reside.
Proverbs 23:7 warns us that the power of our thought influences who we are.
"For as he thinks in his heart, so is he." Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV)
God created man in His image and likeness, to be in relationship with Him. He laid out a series of guidelines for us which are for our protection, benefit and eternal future. God desires that we experience abundant life through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. We MUST surrender our hearts and minds to Christ Jesus, allowing Him to become Lord over our very lives. We have an enemy, called Satan. The Bible states that:
"The great dragon was hurled down- that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray." Revelations 12:9 (NIV)
From the beginning of time, the Enemy of our souls has sought to lead us stray through the persuasion of our minds. Observe the discourse between God, Adam and Eve, and the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
"And the Lord God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.'" Genesis 2:16-17
"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden?" Genesis 3:1
"The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' " Genesis 3:2-3
"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:4-5
God instructs Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He warns them of the consequence of such action, 'you will surely die' (Genesis 2:17). God desires to protect them from death. The serpent desires them to suffer death. The serpent persuades Eve that God has deceived them. Two roads were presented to her, yet she reasoned within her mind to choose the one.
Why would Eve take the word of a serpent she just met over the words of God with whom she was familiar? How did the serpent beguile Eve? Why did the serpent deceive Eve? What was the consequence of Eve's decision and who did it affect?
Click on the comments link to post your thoughts. We want to hear from you! This is a vast topic and we will be discussing it over the next few weeks. If you are new, we heartily welcome you to our BGO family. Happy Commenting!!!
Click on the comments link to post your thoughts. We want to hear from you! This is a vast topic and we will be discussing it over the next few weeks. If you are new, we heartily welcome you to our BGO family. Happy Commenting!!!
3 comments:
The serpent tricked Eve by sewing the seed of doubt. He tried by asking her, 'did God really say, "You must not eat from any tree in the garden?" What is interesting is that God said they can eat from ANY tree EXCEPT from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Once the Serpent planted the first seed of doubt, he went in for the 'kill' by saying by subtly accusing God before Adam and Eve. First he starts off by saying, "You will not die" (Gen 3:4), then he makes it seem that God doesn't want Adam and Eve to be like Him.
I think the devil uses the mind to tempt Christians and make them doubt God's promises/Word. God wanted to protect them. Satan wanted to destroy them.
Why would Eve believe the serpent over God? I am not sure. Why do any of us doubt God when we shouldn't? God showed Adam and Eve His character, power and love just through their journey in the Garden of Eden. He created all these things and gave them dominion over them. He put good things in their hands. He DID all these things for them, yet the Serpent who DID NOTHING came and convinced them that God was somehow not being truthful to them and depriving them of knowledge.
This is an example to me. This speaks to me. When the devil tries to seduce me into disobedience, temptation, doubt, fear and worry, I have to remember who God is, what God has done and His faithful love. I have to remember God's promises to me are yea and Amen, that God wants the best for me.
There is something deliberate, I would imagine, about Faith flying in the face of human Logic & Reasoning. God perhaps wants to show us that He is not constrained by our limitations.
This topic is timely, and the contributions made thus far (by Tash and Special)are insightful. I do agree that the battle is indeed in the mind. I would also go further to say that the battle arises because of: 1)our human tendency to err 2) God's abundant love for us and 3)the hatred of the evil one for all of God's creations. We have each been fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) and God bears an infinite love for us that is epitomized in His gift to us of His only beloved Son.
We are weak vessels as human beings. In other words, anything that is done on our own stead, in the flesh, can be thwarted. The evil one plays with our minds and causes us to focus on self and instant gratification. We have turned into a microwave culture where we want instant answers, instant relief,instant gain etc. We tend to forget that we were created by and for God. As a result, when situations don't provide the results we prefer, as opposed to the results that we actually require, we allow ourselves to rationalize, usually along the lines of "This is what I need...If I don't choose this option things won't go well...Of course this is the right way,it is unnatural to do otherwise...". It is during these times of mental churning that the real battle begins, as the evil one is subtle, and causes us to rely on what we perceive to be our own strength.
Thus the following passage holds true: "Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41 - King James Version.
Thank you for this post and these comments ... I agree that it is our natural bent to reason away from the goodness of God and against the statutes and principles God lays down. One key way we are deceived is when we have not submitted our minds to the renewing that can only take place when we BOTH spend much time in God's Word, AND listen to His Spirit about what He is specifically saying to us about what we are reading, and about how we need to repent, change, or take heed. One without the other (both disciplines of reading the Word and praying/listening to the Spirit) is sure to lead us astray little by little, until we no longer know how to recognize truth from a lie.
In the times we live in now, in spite of how little spare time there seems to be, it is those who really try to make spending time with God and in His Word a priority that will be able withstand and over come the times of testing that will come ... both individually and throughout the whole world (the time of sorrows described in Matthew 24). Now is the time for us to be getting close to God, and intimately familiar with His Word, in a time of relative peace ... then we can withstand the wiles of the enemy when he tries to sift us.
God bless you all.
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