Saturday, September 30, 2017

When God Uses People To Defeat the Devil

In our daily walk and work, we encounter people who genuinely have our best interests at heart, opportunists, super saints, and some people so nefarious that we would think they would die in a spectacular combustion if they set foot on church property! Yet, we sometimes miss the intent of their interactions as some of us have been saved for so long and so heavenly good that we have become no earthly good. We get so comfortable in our small circles that they inevitably define us more than our mission to stomp out the devil. 

 What kind of devil does Brother Deacon speak of today? 

 Take a good look around you and open your eyes. If that isn’t enough, listen to Kanye West’s “Ultralight Beam” featuring Chance the Rapper, Kelly Price, and Kirk Franklin particularly if you’ve subscribed to the authenticity of loving the Lord and admitted to doing a little cussing. 

 With some certainty it is easier to define our devils when we can physically point them out, but what if Lucifer manifests himself as an ideology or a system? How do we use people to put the kibbutz on sin or at the very least, make ourselves aware of battle? 

 Below is 1 Peter 5:6-11 – the primary text I shall use for this blog. I’ll bounce around throughout the Bible to cite examples of brave men and women who have defeated the wiles of the devil and how they did it. Most of you know I study from the Contemporary English Version, so if you’re a stan for King James, it says roughly the same thing. 

 6 Be humble in the presence of God’s mighty power, and He will honor you when the time comes. 
7 God cares for you, so turn all you worries over to him.
8 Be on your guard and stay awake. Your enemy, the devil, is like a roaring lion, sneaking around to find someone to attack. 
9 But you must resist the devil and stay strong in your faith. You know that all over the world the Lord’s followers are suffering just as you are. 
10  But God shows undeserved kindness to everyone. That’s why he appointed Christ Jesus to choose you to share in his eternal glory. You will suffer for a while, but God will make you complete, steady, strong, and firm. 
11 God will be in control forever!

 If we focus solely on verse 8, Peter implores us to #StayWoke – before it became fashionable as a core phrase within #BlackLivesMatter – in the face of the devil we see and the one which we do not visually anticipate. When we stay on guard (some of our pan-Afrikan and Hotep brothers say ‘on-code’), by default we are aware of our surroundings; when we find ourselves in unfamiliar parts, we can glean through the pages of our own lives to have an idea of what to do. In this context, the word Be is a command requiring an immediate call to action, ex. “Be on your guard”; this is not a time to lolly gagging or sneaking in a quick nap. Pay attention! The devil does not always identify himself/herself/itself with horns over the head; sometimes she wears Prada - or nada but a fierce hunger and determination to find someone either complacent or vulnerable enough to take advantage of. Peter further explains that while the devil is always on the hunt, Satan looks for the sleepwalking Christians as his easiest prey to hinder the advancement of God’s Kingdom. Otherwise, mumblings will arise: If Brother Bobby did the same thing I’m doing, then what makes him better than me?
Sometimes the devil wears Prada,and sometimes she wears nada. 

 Let’s face it:  Bad things happen to good people; do we let their sinful misstep define them, or do we step out in the name of love, forgive them, and help them realign their lives to be more Christ-centered instead of casting snide judgments at a sin we may or may not have committed yet possibly exiling them forever from His goodness due to a comment? 

 So, how do we defeat the devil? God provides six ways to conquer this foe: 

 A) Pray;
B) Cast down thoughts;
C) Get rest;
D) Renew your spirit;
E) Know that you are loved; and
F) Be positive.  

 Nehemiah teaches us how to finish with a W although not everyone will finish this race undefeated and with nary a scratch.  He dealt with the violent threats of the enemy in Chapter 4, internal conflict between the wealthy and the poor Jews in Chapter 5, and naysayers toward the completion of the wall in Chapter 6. Even though I won’t go into full detail of all three chapters rather focusing on Nehemiah 6:1-19, read the previous three chapters foreshadowing the events that led him to build the wall around Jerusalem. We must know the four schemes Satan uses to throw us off and understand how to stand firmly against them:  intrigue, innuendo, intimidation, and infiltration. 

 For example, Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem, and other enemies found out that Nehemiah had completely rebuilt the wall save hanging the doors in the gate and they were intrigued enough to send an urgent message to visit them in the Ono Valley. Knowing the interest was insincere at best, he declined the invitation since the work was too important to leave incomplete. Yet, he was summoned to appear three separate times and turned them down each chance not because he was a jerk instead acknowledging the work God had placed before him. By being upfront, this enraged Sanballat the leader of the Samarians to the extent of wanting to destroy the city!

 Note how 1 Peter 5:8 served as a reminder earlier for us to stay woke? See what false interest brings to the table and how the intrigue was intended for Nehemiah to get distracted with the task at hand. 

 People aren’t always going to like us based on where our priorities lie; the devil even uses the good things to his advantage to pull us away from Job One. In addition, we have other to-dos that supersede the thing that was trying to occupy more of our valuable time and energy. If we get distracted by the platitudes and showering compliments, then we find ourselves off-code. If nothing else helps, pray.

 For those of us who have been watching the news, many of us can recognize the use of innuendo – a veiled reflection on character or reputation. President Donald Trump uses this technique to provoke corporations and more recently, individual citizens with a series of falsehoods to damage the intended through his rallies, Twitter account, and policies he is lacking a basic understanding of such as health care and today, the Jones Act. In verses 5 through 9, Nehemiah sees through the harmful innuendo Sanballat tries to rope him into and his reaction is twofold:  casting down those untruths and prayer. Sure, he could have held a press conference denying any attempt to overthrowing and killing King Artaxerxes but he already knew that was patently false. Rather than fanning the flames of dissent and remaining silent, Nehemiah resisted Satan with the truth and prayer in the most distinct, clearest, open manner possible by sending Sanballat a message stating the following: “None of this is true! You’re making it all up.” Further, he lets the Jews know that their enemies were trying to frighten them and prevent them from doing the work, and asks God to give him strength during the storm. 
Excuse the language, but understand the larger point.

 Does this sound familiar? 

 Leaders must pray for God’s wisdom as to whether to remain silent or reply to false accusations. No matter how we respond, we must always pray and keep doing the work God has commissioned for us to do as it is the right thing. 

 Nehemiah resisted the devil by standing firm in his priorities and with a forthright truth and prayer. Unfortunately, the devil wasn’t ready to quit trying him. 

 Last weekend, over two hundred NFL players knelt during the national anthem in response to the president calling on team owners to “fire the SOBs”. The original intent of former San Francisco 49ers Colin Kaepernick’s protest was not toward the flag itself rather than police brutality and the nation not living up to its collective bargain with people of color, particularly African-Americans. Using coercion to suppress the First Amendment rights inherited to all Americans from birth to maintain employment showed the extent absolute sovereignty had become and how nationalism/white supremacy has found its way into the nation’s highest offices. In addition, Trump rescinded an invitation to the NBA champion Golden State Warriors to make a visit the very same weekend in retaliation of black people using their voices! 

 In a way, the first white president (I know we had 43 white men as presidents of the United States prior to Barack Obama, but Donald Trump seems hellbent on turning back the clock to 1836) is using NFL owners to do the buck-breaking for him and the overly patriotic (usually white) Americans who put more stock in fabric than a man and his own experiences. Perhaps they are okay with paying to see gladiators throw themselves around as entertainment for a few dollars because showing an ounce of blackness is too intimidating for the same men and women who spent all day drinking and eating, cheering for the Cowboys on Sunday and calling the Hogs each Saturday afternoon. 

 Look at how former Razorbacks men’s basketball coach Nolan Richardson took on the University of Arkansas after his firing and won some Pyrrhic victories although he didn’t get the money he originally  requested. 

 Nehemiah went to visit Shemaiah who was supposedly confined to his home except he wanted to go hide in the temple in fear of Nehemiah’s enemies coming to kill him that night. “Why should someone like me go hide in the temple to save my life?” asked Nehemiah. “I won’t go!” It was then the son of Hacaliah realized that God had not given Shemaiah the message, instead he was being used by Sanballat and Tobiah to trick and frighten him into doing something wrong such as entering the temple [remember, Nehemiah was an average man called to do extraordinary things – he wasn’t a priest]. He then asked God to punish the duo, the prophetess Noadiah, and anyone involved in the set-up. 

 This was his “nah, playa. We good” moment. 

 In leadership, we never truly get rest until the mission is accomplished. In what seems to become rote for him, Nehemiah prays. This time, he asks God to take care of his enemies. When Satan sends people to intimidate us with disobedience, respond with fearless obedience and prayer. 

 Consider how the Hoover-led FBI was complicit in the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and more the local white clergy and moderates in the South who preferred the Civil Rights Movement be a gradual one. 

 After fifty-two days, the wall around Jerusalem was completed! The devil went home, the workers were overjoyed, and Nehemiah was about to sit in the cut and sip Moscato, right? 

 Nah, playa; there is more to the story.

 While the enemies were deflated from trying so hard to block our blessings, they did admit that God was in control all along as even they credited their success not to the workers but to Him. 
The good news is Satan lost the battle. The bad news is he was about to play dirty and continue the war. 

 Remember Tobiah, the governor of the Ammonites? It turned out he was a nominal (honorary) half-Jew, and by virtue of his marriage and business ties to Jews, he had an insider’s view of the positive things Nehemiah was doing and his hard work in restoring Jerusalem. Yet, he wrote those threatening letters to Nehemiah and undermined him at every chance; his infiltration of the culture proves that even the church has had to contend with wolves in sheep’s clothing. During Nehemiah’s absence to Persia, the governor had the audacity to move his personal belongings into the temple! Once he returned and saw what it really was – a compromise with the world, Nehemiah personally threw his household goods out of the room. 
Don't forget this happened multiple times in the Bible

 Until Christ returns, there will be no perfect church. We have agendas that we want to set even to the detriment of collective Kingdom building, and we as humans tend to be more hung up on our titles than the real objective of soul-saving. From my own experiences, I have seen churches nearly split because an associate minister refused to stay in his lane or the pastor would hog the pulpit or in community congregations, one family has effectively neutralized the God-appointed leadership.
A few lessons that come from this are not to expect perfection in Christian work; never put confidence in our own work, but only in God who enables us to work; and when God’s people compromise with the world, it hinders God’s work. 

 Want to see how else people beat the devil in the Book of Nehemiah and its real-life correlations? 

 Turn a few pages in your Bibles to Nehemiah 2:10 and read this:

 10 But when Sanballat from Horon and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about what had happened, they became very angry, because they didn’t want anyone to help the people of Israel. 

 To me, this is eerily similar to the Republican Party wasting votes to repeal the Protection Patient Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare by linking the entitlements to persons of color getting free stuff, death panels, and other racist narrative right-wing news media and talk show hosts parroted that day. After massive calls and packing out town halls, we can only hope that repeal is dead; why would some men and women who claim to be Christians not take care of the least of these? Oh, I know why; white Republican Jesus is in it for the tax cuts first, and religion is a convenient muse to conceal sinful intent – in this case, the twin sins of greed and racism.

 Now we know how people are prepared to defeat the devil, how do we fight Satan? 

 By putting on the whole armor of God as per Ephesians 6:10-17.

 10 Finally, let the mighty strength of the Lord make you strong. 
11 Put on the all the armor that God gives, so you can defend yourself against the devil’s tricks. 
12 We are not fighting against humans. We are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness and powers in the spiritual world. 
13 So put on all the armor that God gives. Then when that evil day comes, you will be able to defend yourself. And when the battle is over, you will be standing firm.
14 Be ready! Let the truth be like a belt around your waist, and let God’s justice protect you like armor. 
15 Your desire to tell the good news about peace should be like shoes on your feet. 
16 Let your faith be like a shield, and you will be able to stop all of the flaming arrows of the evil one.
17 Let God’s saving power be like a helmet, and for a sword use God’s message that comes from the Spirit. 

 The trickery is real, and so is the explicit AND implicit biases we have to navigate daily. Not only do we have to deal with discriminatory laws in how they are enforced but also the very real possibility of substandard health care for our families. Combine that with the macro- and micro-aggressions we endure at work and it is a miracle the bosses we kill with our thoughts have not actually perished! This does not include the legal system where the prosecuting attorneys and sheriffs wield more power in determining if a man is free or imprisoned by the amount of bail money and fines required in exchange for his freedom; several judges nationwide implicitly use race as a factor during sentencing. Think about why as election season nears, they parade around the disproportionate number of black men incarcerated as they portray themselves as “tough on crime” and the “law and order” candidates, both of which are code words for locking ‘em up and throwing away the keys.
Satan, get behind me!

 Let us see what happens when the courts are now filled with opioid addicts and dealers if they get the book thrown at them or some call for help, like a rehab. Then tell me why. 

 Despite the fake news and falsehoods spread around to damage our character, the truth shall shine through like a butt-kicking superhero as our faith resembles a shield intended for us to block the flames and grenades tossed in our way. Be unapologetic. Be woke. Be the great that God calls us to be. 

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