Spiritual Display is Dangerous

Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not shew me which of us is for the king of Israel? And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber. (2Kings 6: 11, 12)

Let us continue looking at our Lord’s instructions on Matthew 6.

In summary Jesus is saying that your spirituality should strictly be between you and God. Anything beyond that is unspiritual, unfruitful and without reward.

I want us to look at it from the point of war.

Do you realize that in a war very few people know the details of the same? Ever known that many times the maximum number of people with the complete strategy may be two or at the most three? And that for an army of several thousands and much munition?

Why is that important?

The opposing side would pay anything to get that strategy because it would then mean the war would be a walk over. Ambushes happen because one side gets some leakage of the other’s strategy and basically leads them to slaughter by leaving no escape route. The team that can access its enemy’s strategy sets the pace of the war and its conclusion. And that is why spies are loved and loathed, depending on which side they are serving.

That is why hackers are dreaded as they can effortlessly get into those fortresses and fish out whatever they want.

That is what we see with Elisha here. He was able through revelation to ‘hack’ into the enemy’s files and leak them to Israel’s king.

What does this have to do with spiritual display? Everything, I may say.

We have an enemy. And that enemy is most devious and enormously experienced.

Letting him into our plans gives him an upper hand over our lives.

Why do many popular ministers have issues with sin? Why is it that many Christian singers sink into sin? What makes many popular pastors greedy for gain?

I dare say that the devil gets a sneak preview of their life and uses it to lay enough traps and snares for them.

You see, you can’t lay an ambush on me unless you have my itinerary.

Let me get us back to some recent happenings where some people would come back from holiday to find ransacked houses. And the thieves simply followed their social media posts to know that they would be away for some time. And of course we have some who have lost jobs and sponsorship opportunities when the benefactor got to visit their pages.

Do you get my drift?

Why do you post what you post?

Many people find their validity in likes and follows and all those other reactions.

Sadly, it is not only your friends who follow you. Your arch enemy is among those who are very keen on what you post. And he is not there to build your faith or ministry but to destroy you. He will therefore use your posts to lay traps on your spiritual life, many times through knowing what you are doing and thinking. Is it not surprising that Facebook welcomes you by asking what’s on your mind?

That is why it is important to listen to God about the media, especially our interactions with it.

Let me offend some friends here and go to prayer.

The charismatic movement brought a deformation on prayer by trashing what Christ said.

You go to a prayer meeting and the noise is deafening. Many even do that in their private prayer times, speaking as loud as possible for their prayers to be heard.

In my youth I used to wonder why such prayer warriors fell into stupid sins but now I understand. Their prayer times were the reason of their downfall.

When the enemy is able to eavesdrop on your communication with God, is it surprising that he would package temptation as the answer you were seeking for in prayer?

Let me give an example with what has felled many.

Let us say I am praying for a wife (nowadays people pray for girlfriends).

Of course in prayer I will describe the kind of girl I want God to give me because God requires us to give specifics (or so we think). I will also suggest signs to show me that my prayer is being answered.

Is it far-fetched to think that the devil will package his daughter perfectly for my prayer? And how will I distinguish between God’s and the enemy’s if the enemy can access all my communication?

That is why men have married harlots and other men’s discarded wives because their private prayer became public. The enemy was thus able to package an answer in the shape of the prayer. And God will not interfere because He is the one who gave instructions about the prayer closet, instructions you trashed by your doctrine.

But suppose I had gone to the prayer closet as per Matthew 6. All my specifications will be between me and God because my mouth is as shut as my heart is open. The signs I require are known only to God.

The master strategist is in the dark because he has no clue about what I prayed, let alone my prayer for a wife. He just saw me get in and get out in power.

His temptations will be generic, the type 2 Corinthians 2:11 is talking about. Victory will thus not require much, a simple walking with God will suffice

A temptation packaged according to my prayers will be totally different.

You see, many girls qualify for what you want. Dimples, tick; skin texture, tick; body shape, tick; type of job, tick, etc. Many cars will meet my requirements. Many houses will perfectly meet my demands.

I am therefore at a disadvantage when the enemy can access my heart’s desires through my audible prayers or social media interactions because the devil is not learning temptation from the net. He is actually the one running the same.

The devil will so package that man or woman that you will wonder how perfectly God answered your prayer after you ended it. But in a short while that answer kills you spiritually.

And it is the same with support for some of us depending on God to raise support for us.

If the devil can access my heart’s desire through prayer or social media interactions, he is then able to package my temptations to appear like answers to prayer. And that is a sure way to fall.

It is the same with jobs and business opportunities.

Do not for one moment think I am saying that the devil is more powerful than he is. He isn’t.

But a weak army can vanquish a bigger and better equipped army if they can trap them to a place where their superior armory is of no use.

The USA was not chased from Vietnam or recently Afghanistan because they were weaker. Far from it.

And we have our own valley where our police always fall to a ragtag band of bandits because it is their valley. They lead (allow) them to a place where they are unable to maneuver. Then they are able to kill them as they wish.

We are therefore not talking about who binds and who looses who.

We are talking about information, especially information that can be useful to the enemy. And this especially because you are the one in charge of the information you post. You are in charge of how you pray.

Do not allow anybody to hack into your spiritual life and leak out information to third parties that are opposed to your spiritual progress by getting him close to your pass words.

Allow the Holy Spirit to be the one to manage, not only what you post, but also how you post it.

Only then are we safe from the prying eyes of the enemy of our souls.

What does Matthew 6 tell you?