Defending Simple Faith

Thoughts from a good soak!

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Give a dead guy this kind of armor and he'll be unstoppable!

Do you let Him fight all your battles?

When defending my little brother...I remember this question being sarcastically thrown out to him as a child. It still never bode well for his would be attacker!

One of the Adversary’s primary objectives is to destroy your simple faith in God. His intricate schemes and hidden diabolical drive is focused on one thing: diminishing the power of the Word of the Lord by undermining our trust in it. The very universe itself along with everything in it was created and is upheld by the Word of God according to John 1:3 and Hebrews 1:3, so in order for Satan to win, his efforts must be centered on discrediting the simple and freeing Good News of the Gospel.

Will the real you please stand up!

The enemy constantly seeks to alter our perception of reality. This is why so often we are prone to believe his condemnations rather than the Word of God, which frequently points to our righteousness in Christ being secured and in play while grace and peace are perpetually being multiplied to the weak!

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!

The enemy seeks to distort the truth. He does this by making destructive things look enticingly desirable. He seeks to make the most wonderful things look unbearably boring and dull. He seeks to make the most trustworthy things look unreliable through conjecture. He seeks to make the one, true fountain of joy look like a dry well, and a broken cistern look like a spring of refreshment. He will even try to convince you hell is entertaining.

Ever been lost?

It is the enemy’s tactic to cause disorientation through temptation, condemnation, intimidation discouragement, disappointment, doubt, illness, weakness, weariness, and to appeal to our pride and shame. The spiritual powers of evil seek to keep us off-balance, confused, and turned around. If we lose our focus on the truth, we lose our sense of direction and confidence in God, which ultimately leads to losing the simple faith that we have been chosen to walk in.

I had a feeling about that guy!

The enemy is the conjurer of suspicion and he accomplishes this by infiltration into our relationships. He seeks to pervert the exchange of trust between our loved ones and us. Marriages break, families fracture, friendships rupture, churches split, movements derail as sin infects, and suspicion breeds. In the skirmish we easily lose track of who the enemy really is and sometimes we end up fighting against even our own flesh and blood.

I hope you Croak

Jesus was right when He said that we would have tribulation and that the way would be hard. It has been far harder than you or I may have ever expected!

But Jesus was right about something else: In Matthew 16:18 He says, “the gates of hell will not prevail”. John 14:6 reads, “The way is hard, but the way is sure!” Well now that you think you have a pretty firm grip on the obvious, and have committed to go a few more rounds in the ring of hell, don’t miss the most simplistically profound statement of our faith that is found in the Bible. In John 1:1 it simply says "The Way is the Word."

While many of us will go for years struggling in the mire of self-sufficiency, attempting to deal a deathblow to our enemy, the simple secret of simple faith, the great mystery is…ready for it? Die! Die, die, die, die, croak! Stay with me because I know I may have lost you!

The Left Hook from Heaven

All the brutal forces of hell, with all the distortion it can conjure, disorientation it can cause, and suspicion it can sow, simply cannot break the Word of God. For that Word is God himself John 1:1. And the Word came to destroy the works of the devil, 1 John 3:8.

The Stand In

It seems illogical that someone would take my place in the Octagon! But, the Word of God destroyed the works of the devil by being broken. Yes, all hell broke loose upon the Word of God in a ring that spanned from Gethsemane to Calvary and the Word was broken. It was for you and me that he took all of the arm bars, left hooks, take downs, and all the rest but He was not broken in the way that the enemy tried to break Him. The Enemy tried to compromise the Word, but the Word held fast by being broken, by being submitted. What the enemy didn’t understand is that while Jesus was broken on the mat, he wasn’t submitting to Satan, He was submitting to His Father!

So Ur Say'n The Dead Guy Wins?

Catch the simplicity now! In being broken, the Word of God kept unbroken the word of God, the great covenant. Justice was upheld when Christ stood in the ring for me and became both “just and the justifier of the one who has simple faith in Jesus” see Romans 3:26.

That Word, otherwise known as “Jesus Death-Blow Christ,” stands above all earthly powers and smashes against the gates of hell.

Things may be hard for us. But Jesus, the Word, the Way, will pour out His wrath on our enemy - literally hell for hell.

The key to our clarity in the face of the enemy’s distortion, focus in the face of hell’s disorientation, and our persevering, longsuffering love in the face of our adversary’s suspicion, is to listen to the Word of God by soaking in the words of God in the Bible. The Word is our refuge, Psalm 18:30; the Word is our peace, Acts 10:36, Philippians 4:7; and the Word is our weapon, Ephesians 6:17. Scripture declares we are dead in Him and resurrected into a new life with Him.

Join the Resistance!

We must remember that the devil is after one thing our faith. And we must remember that we will overcome him by one thing: our faith,
1 John 5:4. Jesus summarized our one and supreme defense against hell in this statement: “believe in God; believe also in me” John 14:1.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him; be firm in the simple belief in the faith of Jesus. This faith is not yours but His faith in you. Know that everyone around you is experiencing the same kind of suffering. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (1 Peter 5:8-10)

Now, Grace and Peace be multiplied unto you!

John Fairrington

Commoner, Sinner, Saved by Grace!