Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life (Gal.6:7-8)

There are a few basic principles repeated throughout scripture that would profoundly change lives if we would truly believe God’s word. The scripture above is one of those. It is essentially about decision-making and outcomes. We make hundreds of decisions each day and many produce long-term consequences. Those decisions can touch a number of areas in our lives.   Some of those decisions might be encompassed in the following questions: How will I spend my time? How will I spend my money? How will I treat my relationships? Will I follow biblical principles or go my own way? Will I stay in a sinful relationship or will I get out? Who will I yoke myself to in relationships or business agreements? Will I take personal responsibility for my failures or blame others?

The list goes on but ultimately all of my decisions boil down to one question: Will I do it God’s way or will I do it my way? Paul phrases that question in terms of being led by the flesh (the natural, worldly nature) or the Spirit (the redeemed part of me that heeds God). The tendency of the immature in Christ is to give in to the promptings of the flesh and then hope for good outcomes. The law off sowing and reaping, however, is about as certain as the law of gravity. You might violate the law and escape harsh consequences by the grace of God on rare occasions but most of the time you will absolutely harvest what you planted.

Paul begins his statement regarding this “law” by saying, “Do not be deceived.” Satan’s greatest snare is the notion that we will be the exception and that God’s clear word will not apply to us. Remember his deceptive language in the garden” “You will not surely die.” But Adam and Eve surely did. They immediately became subject to physical death and immediately experienced separation from God in the spiritual sense. They were deceived and so are many believers. The enemy spends a great deal of time subtly suggesting that we can give into the promptings of our flesh without consequence while he also suggests that doing it God’s way will not answer the needs of our life.

But Paul says that such belief is deception and confirms that with the statement that God cannot be mocked. That word means to ridicule, to make fun of, to demean, to diminish or to not take seriously. To disregard this principle is to not take God at his word. It is to live as if God is a permissive parent who threatens consequences but never follows through. In reality, God doesn’t even have to be part of the process. He simply tells us the inevitable outcomes of certain behaviors. A good parent tells a child that if he jumps off the roof or sticks his finger in a fan pain will be the result. The parent does not cause the pain. He or she simply is telling the child the natural or spiritual outcomes of his actions.

Ultimately, the law of sowing and reaping says that whenever you decide to do something God’s way, there will be a life-giving outcome and many decisions that are Spirit-led will create a harvest or an accumulation of positive, life-giving outcomes. When we choose to ignore God’s word and warnings and do it our way then we begin to accumulate destructive outcomes. Paul suggests that this law is as certain as the law of gravity and we should not think we will escape bad decisions (especially a series of bad decisions) without consequence.

If we truly believed this basic law of the spiritual realm, we would make better decisions and create a life built on better outcomes. Negative consequences are intended to be God’s great teachers. But Satan always has another trick up his sleeve. When we have made our decisions and experience the hurtful outcomes, Satan follows up with the accusation that God did that to us so he doesn’t love us and isn’t fair. When we entertain that demonic thought, instead of learning our lesson and making better, godlier decisions in the future we stomp off angry with God because he didn’t suspend this spiritual law for us. We act like children who jumped off the roof and are mad at out parents because it hurt when we hit the ground.

We really need to take God at his word and make our daily decisions based on the consequences that God has promised. Do it his way – good outcomes. Do it our way – hard times. If you want life to work out, quit giving in to the flesh and start trusting the way of the Spirit. Truly believing this one principle would redeem a multitude of broken lives.

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”

(2 Cor.10:4-6).

These verses are essential to our understanding of spiritual warfare and to our ability to gain victory over the enemy. Even those of us whose church homes are “Spirit-filled” need to be reminded of the truths imbedded in this brief text. We need to be reminded because there is something in us (and me) that constantly wants to default back to the perspectives of the natural man whose eyes are on the world and the solutions the world offers.

In these verses, Paul echoes his thoughts from his letter to the church at Ephesus that our real struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual powers (see Eph. 6:12). Like the proverbial iceberg, the part of the battle we can see is the smaller part. The greater part resides in the unseen realm and because the critical battles are going to be fought in the spiritual realm, worldly weapons and strategies will not save the day. Jesus spoke about his followers being in the world but not of the world. Paul parallels that thought when he says that although we live in the world we do not and should not wage war as the world does. In these few words he alerts us to the fact that even the saved often look to the world for answers before searching out and employing the divine weapons of prayer, declaration, deliverance, confession, repentance, faith and so on.

The truth is that the church as a whole is not well versed in the use of divine weapons. Most believers run to the help the world offers before finally resorting to fasting and prayer and the exercise of spiritual authority which they should have run to first. Think about it. How often do churches refer crumbling marriages to secular “professional” counselors or to counselors who are Christians but who have been trained only in secular approaches to counseling? Does he church not have wisdom to bring healing to these marriages?

For a number of years I served on a visiting committee that helped to evaluate the Marriage and Family Department at a well know Christian university in Texas. Once a year we would meet with graduate students who were finishing the program to ask them about the training they had received and their experience at the school. Year after year we heard positive statements about the faculty and the school but also heard them voice disappointment that they had not really learned how to do Christian counseling with a spiritual emphasis on using the Word, prayer, emotional healing ministered by the Holy Spirit, and spiritual authority exercised by believers over the forces of evil. Nearly every student sensed a need for such training but did not receive it.   The head of the department agreed that such training could be useful but told me on several occasions that in order for their graduates to receive licensing from the state to be a professional counselor, so many state-mandated courses were required that their was no room in the curriculum for the training most students were asking for. Once again, we let the world shape and determine our approach to helping and healing broken people. And once again we act as if the strategies of the world are superior to anything the kingdom can offer.

So, year after year, this Christian university and many others train believers to use the weapons (strategies) of the world but not divine weapons. And yet, Paul clearly states that the weapons of the world are ultimately ineffective. In his letter to the church at Corinth, he scolded the believers there because they were taking each other to court over matters that should have been handled by the church. He said, “Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, appoint as judges even men of little account in the church! I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers” (1 Cor.6:3-5). The same should be true with marriage issues, emotional healing, and addictions. The church has the wisdom and the power of Jesus Christ deposited in us through the Holy Spirit. The world should be coming to the church to learn how to heal relationships and broken hearts rather than the church going to the world.

I am not opposed to medicine and many things the world offers in terms of therapies and support have some value. I believe the grace of God has given the world doctors and counselors. I’m just saying they inevitably fall short if they don’t address the spiritual realities behind many of our conditions. Worldly strategies teach us to manage our issues rather than gaining victory over them. Divine weapons are the most powerful and most effective approaches to human struggles and yet we often only go to those when we have exhausted everything the world offers.

Paul’s letters remind us that we have the resources of heaven at hand and should always go there first. Where there is bondage or deep wounds that lay havoc to marriages or individual lives, strongholds exist where the enemy has found a opening in our souls and has dig in deeply to exploit our pain and make it worse. Only divine weapons can tear down such strongholds. Let’s remember that the power and strategies of God should be our first approach to every issue and not our last resort after the world has failed us once again.

I’m rereading Dutch Sheets book, Intercessory Prayer (everyone should read it), and have been reminded of some critically important principles about which we can become careless to our detriment. Let me quote from him.

“Many Christians believe that protection from accidents, destruction, satanic traps, and assaults, etc. is automatic for the Christian – that we do nothing to cause it – that it is based on the sovereignty of God alone. In other words, when God wants to protect us from these things, He does; when he chooses not to he allows them to happen. This belief simply means that whether or not we are delivered from destructive things is based entirely on God, not us….Whether or not God directly controls every event in the life of a Christian can be answered by stating that the basic laws of sowing and reaping, cause and effect, individual responsibility and the free will aren’t negated when we come to Christ. All promises from God are attached to conditions – governing principles. Most, if not all, of these conditions involve responsibility on our part. Protection is no exception” (p.81-82).

I would add to Sheets’ thoughts the admonition from James that “we have not because we ask not.” In addition, Jesus taught us to pray, “and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.” In other words, we need to ask God daily for protection from the enemy – not only for ourselves but our families, friends and spiritual leaders as well. Satan is not indifferent toward us. He plans, schemes, and lays traps for God’s people. Because of that God counsels us to put on his armor, to be alert, and to pray in the Spirit at all times (see Eph.6:18).

I’m reminding you and myself that we have been instructed to pray for protection and for the wisdom to detect the schemes and traps of the devil. We have been given authority over the enemy but we must exercise that authority in our prayers and other settings for that authority to do us any good.

We are living in a season of heightened demonic activity. Inevitably, what we see going on in the natural realm is a reflection of activity in the spiritual realm because our primary struggle is not against flesh and blood. Across the globe there is unprecedented persecution against Christians. Hatred against Israel is on the rise again. Even in America there is clearly a war being waged against Christianity and biblical truth. When a nation’s leaders legislate to remove the name of God and the commandments of God from the public realm, when they deny that Jesus is the only way to the Father, when they call evil good and call good evil then they release the demonic over a nation.

School shootings, child trafficking, beheadings in Oklahoma, domestic violence, murder, rape, natural disasters, and the rise of Isis with crosshairs on America are not primarily political, social, or environmental in nature. They are primarily actions and conditions prompted by spiritual forces. Weapons or strategies of the world cannot resolve those forces and influences but only God’s divine weapons (see 2 Cor. 10:4) can overcome them. As we pray for solutions to these huge issues in the world we must not forget to pray daily for the protection of the Lord because the enemy has been released in our nation.

The psalmist declares that the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear the Lord and promises protection as we dwell in the shadow of the Almighty. But that protection comes when we are obedient to the Lord and when we consistently and persistently intercede for ourselves and others asking God to keep the evil one from us and to build walls of protection around us. Pray for protection from the enemy, from his snares, from wicked men, from disease, and from poverty. Pray and pray everyday. It is God’s will and his counsel.

Jesus came not only to save us but to transform us as well. Understanding how transformation occurs is essential for us as believers who want to become more and more like Jesus. Obviously, and entire book could be written of the process of transformation but from time to time God gives us a nugget related to radical change in our lives. One of those can be found in Genesis 32.

Remember Jacob and Esau the quarrelling twin sons of Isaac. Jacob and Esau were not identical twins and were very different in appearance and character. Although Esau immerged from the birth canal first, Jacob was holding on to his heal as one who wanted to take his brother’s place as the firstborn. At it’s Hebrew root, Jacob can mean “supplanter” or deceiver. To supplant means to replace and Jacob certainly took his brother’s place by treacherous deception. If you read Genesis 25-32, you will see that Jacob beat his brother Esau out of his birthright (a double portion of the inheritance) and later posed as Esau before Isaac who was old and essentially blind and received “the blessing” that should have been declared over the older brother. After defrauding his brother, Jacob fled for his life. He went to Haran where his uncle Laban lived and settled with his family there. During his time with Laban, Jacob married Leah and Rachel, but was often swindled by his uncle in business deals and deals relating to his wives. Jacob certainly reaped what he had sown. The deceiver was often deceived.

Finally, Jacob had endured all the fraud he could take from his uncle and decided to take his family and his fortune and return to the land of his father. Only one problem stood in his way. His brother Esau still lived in the land and the last time he saw his brother, his brother had murder in mind.

The night before he would encounter Esau, Jacob sent his family and his servants ahead of him to form a buffer between Esau and himself. He stayed behind and encountered a man who wrestled with Jacob throughout the night. Initially, Jacob may have thought this man was a wandering thief or a scout sent ahead by his brother. But apparently, as the night wore on, Jacob began to sense that something supernatural was in the air and that the man with whom he was wrestling might not be a man at all.

Jacob wrestled all night and clung to the stranger but as sunrise approached, the stranger asked Jacob to let him go. “But Jacob replied, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me’” (Gen.32:26). Then the man (apparently an angle of the Lord) asked Jacob what his name was. Angels come on assignment. They don’t just wander around picking fights with strangers. The angel undoubtedly knew Jacob’s name so why did he ask?

I believe he asked because Jacob needed to face himself. Jacob knew that he was facing an encounter with his brother in a few hours that could be deadly. Undoubtedly, he had been doing some serious soul searching in the days leading up to this moment and the final challenge was to consider his name which meant deceiver. Biblical names reflect character. Fraud and deception had defined Jacob’s life and had set some very serious consequences in motion. Before God could bless him, Jacob had to face himself and his failings as a man.

Too many of us want to run on to the good stuff in our conversion process without truly facing our sinful nature and our failings. We try to come to Jesus without acknowledging how badly we need him. But Jesus himself said, “He who is forgiven much, loves much” ( Lk.7:47). To love much, we need to be aware of how much has been forgiven. Facing ourselves honestly and humbly before the Lord can bring us to a place of blessing.

The blessing Jacob received was a new name, Israel, which also indicated a new character. It means “triumphant with God” and spelled a turning point in his life. A new name launched a transformation from a man of deceit to a man of godliness. It began with an honest evaluation of his own brokenness, sin, and failings. That kind of honesty before God brought a blessing and launched him into a critical process of transformation. Our own transformation will require such a self-evaluation and an honest look at who we have been with a hopeful perspective on where we are heading.