For as long as I can remember there have always been Christians who are convinced of their helplessness when it comes to “spiritual attack”. I’m sure you’ve heard this complaint, “Oh, I am under such spiritual attack at the moment!” in a woe is me kind of resignation. I also hear Christians making excuses for their sinful behaviours. I’m sure you’ve heard these phrases, too: “I couldn’t help it!”, “Well, that’s just me”, and the well-worn one we still hear these days; “The devil made me do it.”
Really?
Even before we were born again, the devil couldn’t make us do anything. Yes, our will was compromised and weakened in that spirit and soul was fused/meshed. Our spirit lost sensitivity to God’s law and holiness, and also its ability to govern our will in holiness. Our will was in bondage to our soul without the spirit’s ability to do anything about it - and the devil had great influence over us. But total control? I don’t think so! If that were true (and it isn’t!) then every person on earth in all history would have been Satan-possessed from the get-go. They weren’t. It is right there in Genesis when God asked Cain a critical question – and God was not asking for information here …
The LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it."
Genesis 4:6-7
The inference in the second half of verse 7 is that, with God’s help, even Cain in his unborn again state was still able to overcome his evil desires. If he really wanted to. God told him that quite clearly. But he succumbed to them instead. This is very instructive. Cain killed his brother – and although the devil wanted him to do so, he couldn’t make Cain do the deed. Cain did that all by himself. We are now born again, and one of the things that means is that our will is now separated (along with the rest of our soul) from our sanctified spirit. And that means our spirit can command and influence and direct the godly operation and decision-making power of our will, without confusion. It was always meant to be this way. Of course, this is sometimes a challenge as we are learning to grow in spirit. But the fact is, our will (part of our soul, intellect and conscience array) is to now be controlled by our sanctified spirit. Did not the apostle Paul declare this in Galatians 5:18?
“But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
Galatians 5:16-18 (NET)
The original text here does not have “the” (the definite article preceding a noun denoting something specific, like an article, or a person) preceding the word “spirit” in any of these verses - which is often capitalised in English translations to then render the translation as referring to the person of the Holy Spirit. In fact, the whole context of this passage contradicts such a translation – this is not about being led by “the” Holy Spirit, but about living from our sanctified spirit and not out of soulishness. (Phew! Did that make sense?). Paul is talking about operating out of our spirit, not out of the flesh – so, this is not about “the Holy Spirit”, as such. This is important. In other words, Paul says, “But I say, live by spirit and [“if you do” – inferred] there is no way you will carry out flesh desires.” That’s the literal translation. It’s pretty clear, I reckon. In the beginning Adam’s will was never meant to be used independently of his spirit. It is the same for us born agains. Yes, it takes practice and some effort to get such spiritual momentum going … The devil has even less chance to make you do anything now that you are born again. People should stop saying that.
But wait, there’s a little more. What about the “I’m under such spiritual attack” thing we hear so much about? Certainly, spiritual attack is real, and it can range from mild to extreme, as we know. But we continue to eat from the tree of life and continue to wash our robes in the blood of the Lamb in order to never give the devil any foothold in us, and so, grow powerful in spirit. And that gives “the” Holy Spirit so much more to work with. What many Christians think is spiritual attack is actually temptation – there is a difference. Many of us would be more honest if we said, “I am being sorely tempted by the devil right now”, and we’d probably receive back the loving admonishment from brothers and sisters, “Well, don’t yield to it then!”. But maybe we refer to spiritual attack rather than temptation because we really do want to cave into it instead of resisting it. As if it isn’t my fault. (I’ll let you think about that as you read James 1:13-16 – the major reason we’re tempted is because there are, first of all, evil desires lurking somewhere in us that the devil wants to use).
Real spiritual attack is quite serious, and I will write on this in depth another time. For now, know this. All spiritual attack can be defeated by the Christian, or Christians working together in unity to defeat big attacks on the church etc. There are no exceptions.
“And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He [Christ] made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
Colossians 2:15 (NIV)
We need to believe this. The devil has been disarmed. DISARMED! That means he no longer has the gun – we do … in Christ our triumphant redeemer! So, no more groaning about spiritual attack. We have the “gun” now! And we make the decision to fight back and apply by faith, the victory of the cross.
Revelation 12:11 (NIV) “They [the saints] triumphed over him [the devil] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”
So, there you have it … The devil cannot make you do anything you don’t already (really, deep down) want to do! May this challenge you … in a good way.
You are wonderfully loved.
Ps Milton