The enemy’s principal area of attack among Christians is identity. He knows that to destabilise
us here, is to disrupt all aspects of our life. The enemy is strategic in his
onslaught of the people of God, so we must wise up and be miles ahead of his
scheme at all times. Fresh wisdom, prophetic insight and understanding must
inundate God’s people again so we can always live far above the snares of the
devil. Identity is so fundamental to our lives and it is the true foundation upon
which God builds and administrates His purpose. Certainly GOD is the rock of
ages but unless we partake of this nature of His and make it ours, the rest of
our existence will be unsettling and troubling. It’s critical that we are established
in who we are in God before any other pursuits, because the enemy’s attacks
will hit hard first at the very core of our identity. If he can conquer us
here, he can conquer us everywhere else!
“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field
which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed
said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" And the woman said to the
serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the
fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall
not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die! Then the serpent said to the
woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of
it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil"—Genesis 3:1-5 NKJV
Straight after the creation of man and his endowment
with great power, authority and purpose, Satan in the form of a serpent immediately
set in for the kill. He deliberately mounted an onslaught against Adam and
Eve’s identity by questioning God’s command and hurling at them phrases like “For
God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will
be like God…” There was no need for their eyes to be opened and to be
like God for they were chips off the old block per se, an exact representation
of God Himself in the earth! They were more God than they knew, for
God Himself breathed His very life into them. But Satan
knew that if he could undermine them in their identity and cause them to doubt
being fashioned in the image and likeness of the creator; he could pluck them
out completely from God’s purpose. Sadly, the enemy was successful and Adam and
Eve lost their purpose and their estate of rule and authority. This defeat and
its consequences run deep in every person ever since, from generation to
generation and the struggle to be reconciled with our true being and self
continues to be humanity’s biggest catastrophe to date!
The
Reinstatement
Before Christ the second Adam commenced His earthly
ministry, Satan once again moved in for the kill during His temptation. Again
the questions directed at Christ were an attack at the heart of who He was.
“Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the
Son of God, command that these stones become bread." But He answered and said,
"It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceeds from the mouth of God. Then the devil took Him up into
the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If
You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: 'He shall give
His angels charge over you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest
you dash your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him, "It
is written again, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God."
Matthew 4:3-7 NKJV
Matthew 4:3-7 NKJV
“If you are the Son of God” was Satan’s opening line to
Jesus and it was strategically aimed at destabilising His identity. He knew
that if Christ for a moment doubted Himself, it would be the beginning of His
end and His mission. Therefore what hope
would there be for humanity? The first Adam failed because of the same evil
strategy and now Satan wanted to take Christ out also, the very begotten of the
Father. Jesus deployed an amazing counter strategy which is the very thing Adam
should have done in the beginning. “It is written” and the quoting of the
preceding scriptures was all Jesus did, and this cut down Satan all the time.
At the end, the enemy fled from His presence in bitter disappointment because
he had been crushed by Christ.
What must Christians in the 21st century learn
from this? Firstly, our identity is foundational to our existence and God’s
work on earth and this is the principal area of the enemy’s attacks in us. Secondly,
it is crucial that we know the word - the very word that reflects who we truly
are and can deflect Satan’s fiery arrows at all times. The reason for widespread
identity crisis in the church today is because many Christians are not grounded
in God’s word. There is a famine in the church for the unadulterated and
uncensored word of the Lord. There is so much spiritual fluff and flakiness in
the church that Satan has taken millions of Christians prisoners to doubt
and confusion of who they really are through simple lies and deception. Many saints
are feeding off watered-down and sugar-coated preaching that lacks the
substance and the meat of the word. A
great many depend immensely on the latest Christian songs/music that ministers
mainly to the soul to keep them going spiritually. This is the pathetic
condition of the body of Christ today and it warrants the need for radical
reform where the word is elevated back to the place of pre-eminence.
We cannot take this issue lightly anymore because there are
many casualties in the kingdom because of the lack of knowledge and
understanding in this area of identity. The bible says that people perish for
the lack of knowledge, and God’s ultimate intention in the final analysis is
that all Christians would live by the word and the word alone, for man shall
not live on bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God
(Mathew 4:4).
Bless you all and see you next time…
David Vaka
