Understanding how to
grow up spiritually
Session 1 Lesson 9
Introduction:
Everything living is proven by its growth. We were raised from death to life, therefore
we must grow. We entered this new life as seeds or children and once admitted
into this new life, what is required next is growth. [John 5:24; Col.1:13;
1Pet.1:23 and 1Pet.2:2]
We are still looking
at how the devil tries to weaken our faith since he has failed to stop us from
getting saved. Another means by which the enemy tries to weaken our faith is:
Deception: This is falsehood calculated to weaken the faith of
man thereby making him unable to fulfill his God given purpose of glorifying
God. There are many ways the devil has tried to deceive man over the years. See
Isa.43:7
·
For instance
because of man’s ignorance of who the true God is, he has claimed to be god to
many through idolatry where men are
cheated into leaving the creator to serve the creation like animals, the solar
system like the sun, the moon, the stars and angels. Thus when you see people
worshiping anyone or anything without going through Jesus Christ to God the
father, they have been deceived to worship devils. See Romans 1:18-32.
·
Bewitchment:
People are bewitched when they are deceived to believe a lie as the truth even
though they already had access to the truth. The result is that they would
leave the way of life and go back to their old ways out of fear and
intimidation that if they do not continue in that former way, an evil will
befall them. For instance, some people fear that if they did not continue to
worship the idols of their past, they would be struck to death by the gods they
left. A friend told me this story about a missionary to Republic of Benin. He
said they people to who he was sent usually had to bow to an idol in that
village at a particular time of the day. One day, the drum was sounded when the
people were in Church. The people hurried out of Church to go an honor the devil
as they used to do. The missionary stopped them and told them not to go again
that Christ had redeemed them. The people obeyed the missionary. The priest of
the idol was infuriated and attempted to cast a spell on the missionary and
promised the missionary that he would die in seven days. The idolatrous priest
died two days later. That brought an end to the bewitchment, fear and
intimidation the devil tried to use to keep the people in bondage. Gal.3:1-10.
·
Another means of
deception the devil tries to use to keep men from God after they are saved is
the opposition of science. Through
science, people have studied and learnt medicine for instance and try to prove
by natural means how disease can cause death. Then they come up with imperfect
solutions like drugs etc to try to manage disease. In some cases, they even
tell man that the disease is terminal in which case, all hope of getting healed
is taken away. However, the bible tells us that Christ destroyed the devil and
death and hell and took our sickness on his body so that by His stripes we are
healed. If man keeps listening to God and excludes the opposition of science,
he would be healed. If on the other hand, he chooses to believe science instead
of the word of God, he would die. Science means to know. To this extent, there
is nothing wrong with science. However, when that knowledge conflicts with the
word of God, it should be discarded or man would come under bondage by his
weakened faith. See 1Tim.6:20, Rm.8:5-9, Heb.2:14-15; Isa.53:1-5; Ex.23:25-25;
1Pet.2:24 and Rev.1:18.
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