Who Are You Going to Believe?

Fresh Manna
by Pastor Tim Burt

I want to quote something to your from our MAYO CLINIC FAMILY HEALTH BOOK. It is the definition for a fever. It says, “Fever is one of the body’s reactions to infection. Although the mechanism is incompletely understood, a fever apparently plays a role in the way the body adjusts to and fights off many infectious diseases.”

A fever is a built in fighting mechanism that God created within the body. A fever happens when the body is attacked with something that it thinks is trying to hurt it. We can feel the fever as it raises the temperature of the body. We can also see that much of the body’s focus goes to fighting the attacker.

We should learn from God’s creation of the human body and realize that our spirit was designed by God to do the same thing. If your body was passive when you got sick, it would be overtaken and die. Under normal circumstances it isn’t passive. It’s a fighting machine. It’s what you were also meant to be. God says this to you. “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) The word resists from the Greek means to oppose or to stand against.

I think it was John Wayne who said, “Them is fighting words!” So is every report that you know is contrary to God’s will whether it is an attack on your body or a loss of a job or whatever. I don’t mean to say that we are to oppose or attack a doctor when he or she gives you a negative prognosis. You resist the report, not the doctor. The same is true when you are given a pink slip and laid off from work. You don’t attack the boss but we do attack the devil trying to steal your livelihood in whatever way he comes against you. Every time you get an evil report, you are going to have to face the decision, whose report will you believe? Then you will have to decide, “am I going to let the devil eat my lunch again?”

We weren’t designed by God to be passive as the devil attacks our life. We were designed to fight. We aren’t to fight people. We are to stand in our faith against principalities and powers of darkness. Do they really exist? Eph 6:10-12 says, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Then in 2 Cor 10:3-5 we read about spiritual weapons. It says, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. For the weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” What is a stronghold? A stronghold is an untruth that we have believed and put faith in. It is an evil that has a stronger hold over us than we do over it. The Bible says we demolish these strongholds. The truth and promise of God’s Word is the beginning of that process.

The devil is on the attack all the time. Look around you. Look at all the hospitals. Look at the destruction around you. Look at the problems caused by lying, and abuse and corporate greed. We can’t walk around being mad at people every time something goes wrong. We have to look at the source of the evil that presents itself in our lives. God has called us to love people with His love. We love them by giving them truth and praying God’s blessing upon them. We do the same for ourselves. We attack problems and issues through knowing what God’s will is concerning the matter – through the promises of God’s Word, then through praying in faith, and then by doing what we know to do. Through prayer, like a fever, we stand against the lies that are contrary to God’s will and we praise God for what is His will is to be in our lives. First we have to know and be convinced of the good God wants for us. You won’t believe it and have faith in it until it’s a settled issue in your heart. Once it is, you are ready to win.

Isa 53:1 says, “Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” Isaiah was speaking this to God. He was saying, Lord we have told the people what you said but who has believed us? Who really understands you and believes your promises?

It is God’s will that we know of His abundant love, mercy, grace and covenant of precious promises to those who become His children by faith through Jesus Christ. God is constantly trying to reveal these very things to us. He wants us to believe His report!

Ask yourself: Is the devil ripping you off? Get mad about it. Find out what the promise of God promises you. Put it before the Lord in prayer and resist and rebuke the devil. The Word of God promises – he will flee from you!