Post #9 in a Tale of Two Covenants
Picture this- twenty four people, fighting every imaginable danger to the death. Only one can survive. It’s the Hunger Games, a modern day coliseum where innocent people are thrown to the lions. But do you know what’s worse than the Hunger Games?
Mind Games.
The enemy’s Mind Games.
Last week, Anne had been on a high. She knew nothing could come against her because God was, and always is for her. She had been feeling great altogether.
Until a friend called and mentioned how another friend was getting married in Miami next month and who wasn’t even that smart or pretty to begin with.
Until one of her aunt’s came by on Sunday evening on her way to evening prayers and asked about her boyfriend. And Anne had to confess she didn’t have a boyfriend anymore. And then aunty Bea started saying this is how women in the family had problems marrying but there was so and so prophet who they could go and see to take care of all these generational curses.
She had laughed and dismissed her aunt’s paranoid talk. There was no way Anne was going to a prophetic camp in the middle of nowhere to have a spiritual session done on her.
But days later, she wasn’t feeling too great. In fact, she was feeling down with a thousand questions in her mind. She started going down memory lane of all her failed relationships and her cousins’ which all seemed to check the boxes.
She couldn’t sleep. And without realizing it, her prayers changed and became desperate.
Plus aunty Bea had told her to start bathing in salt water. She hadn’t explained why. And yesterday, for one startling moment, Anne had considered doing just that.
The whole week, she said the right things but her heart was heavy. Every faith confession she made seemed to be contradicted by some new thought or event, or something that wasn’t working in her own life.
She would never get married.
She was a failure.
Everything was her fault.
Did God really love her that much?
Why weren’t her prayers answered?
Under Fire!
It was hard to pinpoint exactly what the problem was. She was reading the right things. She still knew Jesus loved her and God was for her. She knew she was the righteousness of God in Christ.
Last night, she was almost tempted to call one of her exes. He had been in a relationship with her and another girl at the same time, but other than that, he hadn’t been bad. She’d liked him. She may have overreacted because in the end, he’d chosen her, not the other girl. Perhaps, he was still single and maybe they could hit it off again.
And then amazingly, she started to cry one afternoon in the restroom at work. In desperation, she asked the Lord to speak to her. To give her an answer.
And just like that, two words immediately popped up. Just two words.
Mind games.
She sat down on the closed toilet seat (not an ideal place but hey, these were not normal times) and she knew that she was in some kind of war and her mind was the battleground.
And because she had the bad habit of carrying her phone with her even when she went to the restroom, Anne opened the Bible app to 2 Corinthians 10: 3- 5.
…we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
It was all there.
And she saw that she was under fire.
That made her jump to Ephesians 6: 10 all the way to verse 16; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
Anne took a deep breath. That’s exactly how she had felt. She hadn’t done anything wrong but she was a hundred percent sure she was being hit left and right, front and centre. So this was it.
And now she knew.
Going to Battle…
She had thought that spiritual warfare was always up in the air somewhere. But no, it was in her mind.
casting down arguments; the enemy was firing darts of arguments to make her question her faith, especially now that the strongholds of religious thinking had been pulled down from her mind.
every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God; everything that sounded spiritual but wasn’t of God.
bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; if it didn’t line up with the finished work of Jesus on the cross, then it was a lie.
She realised she had an enemy who hated her. Who wanted to devour her. Like a roaring lion.
If you thought the Hunger Games was scary, then welcome to the devil’s Mind Games.
It was one thing to know you were under attack. It was another thing to know how your enemy fought, his tactics. And now she knew. So she knew how to fight back.
By putting up the shield of faith. And faith came by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
And then she found more armour- praying in the spirit. Because it was one thing to be on the defensive. It was another thing to fire back.
… and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit… (Ephesians 6: 17, 18)
She almost lost track of time. She must’ve prayed for quite a while before unlocking the door to the cubicle. She looked at her face in the mirror and smiled.
No one would know she had just gone to war… and won.
The Covenant of Grace and the Enemy’s Tactics
Grace is so amazing the enemy’s tactics is always to make you believe God is not that good. It’s the same strategy he used with Adam and Eve in the garden. He made them believe God was holding out on them.
But the gospel of grace is just that- very good news.
What about Generational Curses?
As a believer in Jesus, there is no curse in your life, no condemnation, no sin past present or future that he hasn’t forgiven and taken away. Generational curses cannot take hold in your life. Your old man from Adam is dead. You have been reborn into the new Man, Christ. Your DNA is different. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Plus, Jesus could’ve been stoned to death. But the reason He died on the cross is to take away all curses by becoming a curse. Cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree, that the blessings of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3: 13, 14).
The Battle is Rigged in Your Favour
To make a good situation even great, God doesn’t even remember your sins! If He does, He’ll be breaking His own covenant and God cannot lie. So my dear friend, you are really in a position where all you’ve got is good things and more good things rushing towards you.
And once you start to believe that, then guess what, the enemy will try to do everything to make you sway. But we fight him with God’s armour, not our armour, but God’s armour. Keep believing God is a good God. Keep putting the finished work of Jesus as the basis of your faith and you will win the fight of faith.
And yes, God is a good God. He is faithful.
Grace is about living the abundant life in Christ.
Stay high on grace my friend!
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HIGH ON GRACE 