Devil’s Advocate 2

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time. (2Chronicles 16: 9 – 10)

I want us to look at the possibility of us falling from our potency in spiritual things. But it is not so that we give up but to be warned, alert and on our defensive against that possibility.

Why is it that small churches for the most part are allergic to sin, any sin, however flimsy, and compromise yet the very large churches seem completely blind to sin? Why do we have barely dressed ladies only in big churches, many times sitting at the front pews?

How come people who are newly saved and/or called to ministry are so clear on what God wants of them though they may not have adequate scriptural knowledge and training yet when they get all the theology, Greek and Hebrew they become fuzzy about very basic and simple things concerning the faith?

Why is it that it is almost impossible to see a member of a small church (even a poor one) starving or going through deprivation yet in those very big and wealthy churches people starve even to death and are thrown out of their houses for lack of rent?

How come small churches raise their ministers yet the big ones outsource theirs?

Again we will look at a few Bible characters, hoping that we will place ourselves there to learn.

The background to the verses above is the king Asa. At one time in the past, an army of a million strong came to fight him. Of course he had no capacity to fight them and therefore turned to God for intervention. And God overcame that enemy. That is how deep his faith was.

Of course he grows rich and influential.

Then a smaller army brings war his way. By now he has an army and money and allies. He therefore does not see the need for prayer. He does not need to ask God for direction or intervention. He therefore takes money to one such ally and bribes him to break his league with this enemy so that he does not need to fight the battle.

That is when God confronts him. And he gets mad instead of repenting.

Asa had started living by this verse that everybody who does not read the Bible quotes, ‘God helps those who help themselves’. And that is how he fell.

And Elisha said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee. (2Kings 3:14)

Jehoshaphat is the king who sent the choir in front of the army to the battlefront. Yet do you realize that he died with the wicked?

Again we see God lifting him up and prospering him. Then he starts making alliances with his contemporaries and peers, some of who are on the wrong side of God like Ahab. Of course his faith gets watered down by those new friends.

Is it not interesting that even after God disowning Ahab in his presence, it was not enough to shock Jehoshaphat to reconsider that alliance that he had even to get a wife for his son from the same Ahab? This daughter from hell was to later almost clear David’s line to reign in their stead.

Company and logic are very strong persuasion agents.

What happens to Hezekiah after his famous prayer is answered? He backslides. No wonder the product of that season was the most wicked king Judah ever had, Manasseh.

What happened to Uzziah at the peak of his reign? He became more important than God’s word and like Saul sought to usurp the priests’ office.

Remember that Gideon put up an ephod that became a snare after being the undisputed leader? Remember Joshua was deceived by the Gibeonites when he was secure enough that he forgot he needed to know God’s take on the decision? Remember Noah became drunk after finishing his huge assignment?

None of us is immune to falling, especially after overcoming great odds. That is the point I want us to get. Because then we will be more careful with our devotional life and stop assuming that all is well just because the outward looks fine, especially when people are applauding our effort.

We can fall. In fact our makeup is that we will definitely fall. That is our default position.

We do not plan to fall. We do not scheme to fall. We are wired to fall as it is what the natural man does best.

The upward look is the fruit of God’s seed in us being nurtured. And that requires effort, consistent effort.

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. (Luke 9: 23, 24)

It also requires constant self-examination.

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? (2Corinthians 13:5)

And the extreme of discipline

but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected. (1Corinthians 9:27)  (WEB)

How experienced as a Christian and minister? Do you ever feel that you have enough experience and knowledge of the things of God to cruise along without needing a day by day, moment by moment promptings from God?

That is a clear danger signal. A cruising Christian is not the kind of worshipper God defines, and forget about those songs you call worship because they are doubtful as the leaders are also cruising in their worship.

But there is hope for us when we are willing to be on God’s side. There is great hope when we want to flow in the richness of God’s grace. And there is hope when we give God complete control of our lives, allowing Him to run it in accord to His purpose and revelation.

We will next be looking at people who crossed over from being God’s enemies to His friends.