No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.  This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord. Isaiah 54:17

For many of us, this is a familiar passage but, perhaps, one that we have not dug into very deeply. There is a two-part promise that comes to us as servants of the Lord that we often need to stand on. First of all, God promises that no (none, not any) weapon (weapon, instrument, possession, plan) forged (formed, fashioned, planned, designed) against us will prevail (prosper, cut through, force entry, succeed) if we are servants of the Lord (full time, not part time).

Since Paul tells us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but rather against spiritual forces of wickedness, we can say that no weapon the devil forms against us and uses through people will prevail or be victorious in the long run. He is not saying that we will not face some battles and even get some cuts and bruises. He is saying that in the long run, the plans of the enemy to destroy us will not succeed if we continue to stand with the Lord.

Secondly, he declares that God will eventually refute every accusation that comes against us. These are connected thoughts and the second may actually be a clarification of the first. Satan is called the accuser of the brethren (Rev.12:10) and not only accuses us day and night before God, but also before men. Many of the weapons formed against us come as accusations, slander, condemnation, and so forth. Sometimes we experience those assaults through the lips of people around us. At other times, we hear them in our own thoughts. They are hurtful, discouraging, and damaging. They are fiery darts from the enemy. Search the scriptures and you will see that all those who served the Lord were, eventually, accused of ungodly motives and actions by their enemies. They were accused of being blasphemers and heretics, subverting governments, and being in league with the devil just for a start.

The promise is that we will refute the accusations made against us. But how will we refute them? Do we argue, make our case, or slander back? No. We trust God to vindicate us in the eyes of those around us. Jesus did not answer his accusers and he is our model (1 Peter 2:23).
As you search the Psalms, you see David frequently asking God to vindicate him but he rarely attempted to vindicate himself. There is an old saying that you should not try to defend yourself against slander because your enemies won’t believe it and your friends don’t need it. There is a great deal of truth in that.

How, then, do we refute words spoken against us? By continuing to live a godly life regardless of how others accuse us. Jesus went as far as commanding us to love our enemies who typically reflect the devil’s character as they accuse us day and night. He commands us to love our enemies by praying for them, speaking well of them when they speak evil of us, and doing good to them (Lk.6). Those actions keep the devil from getting a foothold in our own hearts. The promise is that, eventually, the people we care about will see Christ in us and see the devil in our accusers. If we give in and join them in the mudslinging, then people will eventually see the devil in us and that will hide the devil in them because he is a much more accomplished mudslinger than we can ever be.

To me, the most important part of the Isaiah passage is that protection and vindication are our heritage in the Lord. If that promise is true for the servants of God, how much more must it be true for his children?

Jesus said that in this world we will have trouble (Jn.16:33). Weapons, plans, and strategies will be formed against us. We will experience much of that warfare in the form of accusations and condemnation. Our part is to continue to stand with God, always take the high road, and trust in the Lord for vindication. If we fall into the trap of the devil by taking up his tactics in the fight or by receiving the condemnation he is spewing, then his weapons will have prevailed in our lives. But if we trust the Lord and his promises and continue to reflect the character of God, then our faith will quench the fiery darts of the enemy.

Standing with God in the face of unfounded accusations is hard. It typically takes endurance. If there is truth in the accusation, then we need to hear it, acknowledge it, and repent. David understood this principle. After his son Absalom conspired to take David’s kingdom, David and those close to him were leaving Jerusalem. A man name Shimei accused David of treachery against Saul’s household and was pelting David with stones. Abishai, one of David’s commanders came to him and offered to separate Shemei’s head from his body. David commanded Abishai to leave the man alone. Davis thought that, perhaps, God had prompted the man to say those things for there might be some truth that David needed to hear. If there was no truth in the accusations, then David believed that God would bless him for the abuse he was receiving without retaliation (2 Sam.16). The same spirit is found in Paul’s directives in Romans 12. “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse…Do not repay anyone evil for evil…but overcome evil with good” (Rom.12:14-21).

Satan’s primary strategy is to alienate us from God and to draw us into his camp. If we come into agreement with Satan in our heart or in our actions and remain there long, we give him a place in our lives.  When we stand with the Lord, believing that victory and vindication are part of our inheritance, then we will see the power of the enemy fade and the promises of the Father prevail. Then…no weapon formed against us shall prosper. Be blessed today by blessing those who curse you! By the way, you will probably have to ask Jesus for the grace to do so.

Have you ever been hurt by a church, or more accurately, someone within your church? Many believers stay away from organized churches because they were once wounded by some leader in a church or some “charter member” who had been there since the first brick was carted onto the property. When that happens, many individuals feel wronged by the entire church or by God himself.

A number of years ago, I tried to share my faith with a man that I worked with. I knew he did not go to church so I was trying to turn every conversation into a discussion about the Lord. One day he simply told me that he was not interested in anything having to do with church. He went on to tell me that at one time he and his wife had both been very involved in a church and had served in numerous ministries. But one day he had come home unexpectedly and found his wife in bed with his best friend who also was very involved in his church. He felt betrayed by God who had “let that happen” and by church people who apparently were all hypocrites. He had generalized the offense from two people failing God, to God himself and the entire world-wide church. He had never been back to any church. I have met numerous people in my lifetime who have done the same thing when they were wounded or disappointed by something that occurred in their church.

We should not be surprised because Satan does his best work within the church. Scripture warns us of that reality over and over. On numerous occasions, Jesus spoke of the religious leaders of the Jews as children of Satan and sons of hell. These men thought that they were incredibly spiritual and pleasing to God and yet they were deceived. That deception caused many to stay away from embracing God. Jesus declared, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are” (Mt.23:13-15). Satan had taken what was holy and over a period of years had perverted the heart of Judaism, turning it into rules made by men rather than a guidebook for building a relationship with God. Their hypocritical way of life and burdensome rules kept people away from the Lord.

Paul encountered the same demonic tactics. Writing to the church at Corinth about men who were trying to undermine his ministry there, he wrote, “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve” (2 Cor. 11:13-15).

Jude was forced to write about the same phenomenon. He said, “ I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord” (Jude 3-4). In addition, Paul warned Timothy by saying, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron” (1 Tim.4:1-2).

We need to understand that Satan has an active ministry within the church. Where else would he direct his best efforts? The church is God’s only instrument for distributing his grace to a lost world so why would he not infiltrate the church in order to destroy it?

Toward the end of World War ll, it was discovered that Germany had built cities just like cities in America and had trained German spies to blend in with American culture, speak perfect English, discuss baseball, be well versed in American history, dress like Americans and order food that Americans liked. The plan was to infiltrate the American army and America itself with perfect replicas of the average American whose plan was to confuse and destroy Germany’s enemy. Satan does the same in the Lord’s church.

John spoke of such men when he said, “Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us” (1 Jn.2:18-19). Those men had been part of the church, had fellowshipped with the saints, and probably led ministries but John declared they were not members of Christ but rather those who were controlled by the spirit of Anti-Christ.

We will inevitably be wounded, betrayed, or offended by people in the church. Some are simply broken people, immature in Christ (even long time attenders can remain spiritual children). These individuals have been victimized by Satan. They carry deep wounds and fulfill the adage that “hurting people hurt other people.” Others are unknowingly under the strong influence of Satan and believe they are serving God while all the time they are doing Satan’s work. Still others apparently arrive with clear and willful agendas to damage the church.

So, what are our takeaways? First of all, don’t be surprised when some people in the church fail you or act badly. We are all still in process and will fall short of the glory of God in our bad moments. Some are plants of the enemy so don’t ascribe their behavior to the whole family of God or God himself. Choose not to be easily offended and do not generalize the failure of a few to represent the many. Secondly, don’t let Satan win. Make biblical responses to bad actors applying grace and forgiveness as needed. For those serving Satan without repentance, the leaders of the church must discipline them and escort them to the door.

We must remember that we are in a war and that war is sometimes fought within the confines of the church – especially when we have been infiltrated by enemy agents. Now, please don’t accuse everyone with whom you have differences or who had been rude to you of being pawns of Satan and anti-Christs. Mostly, we will encounter broken people whose pain spills over onto others. But remember, that even within the walls of God’s church our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Don’t be surprised by it and do reject the body of Christ because of it. In the end, those who stick will win and a generous application of grace and love towards those who have wronged us neutralizes the venom from the serpent. Be blessed today in Him.

What you think about God is the most important thought you are ever going to have about anything. – Graham Cooke

I believe the statement above is absolutely true. What you believe about God determines just about every decision you will ever make and those decisions will determine the accumulation of consequences in your life that will define it. Knowing what you believe about God is the first step to coming into alignment with his truth.

If I were to ask the average believer if he knows what he believes about God, the answer would most likely be “Of course!” Then that believer would begin to tell me everything he had ever learned in church about God and probably give me all the right answers. But knowing the right answers does not always mean that is what we believe. We typically believe that we believe the things we should believe. But our actions are more often the real indicators of what we truly believe.

For instance, if you are high on control in your life then you may actually believe that: (1) God does not always know what is best for you, or (2) God doesn’t always do what is best for you or (3) God is unable to accomplish the things in your life that would always be in your best interest. So…either God doesn’t know, he doesn’t care, or he can’t. Why else would you always have to be in the driver’s seat rather than letting God drive?   When we always have to be in control of the situation or always have to control the people around us it is, most likely, because we are afraid of being hurt or not having our needs met. We don’t trust God to meet our needs, protect us, or work things out for our ultimate benefit. If we don’t trust God it is because we believe he is either untrustworthy or incapable. Our actions are evidence of our actual beliefs.

If we are angry with God, then we must believe that he is uncaring, unfaithful, or incapable because we have taken up an offense against God believing that He betrayed us or wronged us in some way. Deep within, we believe that the Father does not always love, does not always keep his promises, and is not always righteous. Otherwise, how he could have wronged us?

If we are constantly driven by fear, then we hold similar beliefs about God or, at least, believe that God’s love is based on our performance and since we know our performance often falls short, we believe he doesn’t love us and, therefore, he will neither protect us nor provide for us. The world, then, becomes a frightening place.

We could go on but you get the drift. Most of us know what the Bible says about God but out actions reveal a deeper level of beliefs about God that are contrary to scripture. Taking a look at our actions and what they suggest about our view of God is the first step to correcting misbeliefs and is the first step to real faith.

Much of our disappointment with God, anger at him, or even “unbelief” comes from some experience in which we believe God let us down or wasn’t there for us. It is as if we have snapshots of God in our hearts through which we judge him even though the snapshots are taken in an isolated moment of time without regard for all the frames before that moment or after.

In my book, Born to Be Free, I tell a story that demonstrates that principle. Several years ago, I counseled a woman who was a survivor of satanic ritual abuse. When she was five years old she was taken to a “church” by her mother and left with some adult “church workers” who then took her to the basement of the building. In that dark basement, she became part of a satanic ritual complete with robes, candles, sexual molestation, incantations, threats and more. Terrified, this little girl cried out to God to have them stop … but they didn’t. Later, her mother picked her up and took her home. The little girl never told her mother thinking that she was part of what had happened to her or that the Satanists would kill her and her mother is she ever told anyone what had happened.

As an adult, she attended church faithfully and served in several ministries there but suffered from clinical depression. As we talked about her depression we got around to her relationship with God. She told me her story. She left that childhood experience with several negative views of God deep in her soul. Either he didn’t exist or he wasn’t loving (or at least didn’t love her) or Satan was more powerful than God because he didn’t supernaturally rescue her from those people.

Even though she was extremely hungry for God she couldn’t trust him to protect her or provide for her and she wasn’t sure that the loved her. Some days she wasn’t sure that he existed. She was fearful, controlling, self-rejecting and often found ways to medicate her emotions. After all, from her childhood perspective, she was on her own in a dangerous world being run by a God she couldn’t count on.

Our first step was to talk about the concept God’s love and free will. It is a difficult concept and gets back to the question, “If there is a loving God, why is there so much evil in the world?” That is a great question and one we will tackle briefly in my next blog. In the meantime, make Paul’s prayer to the Ephesians your own prayer as you ask God for a revelation of his true nature for your heart and be blessed today.

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. (Eph.1:17-19).

One of the great hindrances to healing and freedom in the body of Christ is a view of God that defines his sovereignty as “his will being done in every situation of life”. He is certainly sovereign but in that sovereignty he has chosen to exercise limited control of his creation.  That limit is called free will and it opens both God and man up to the possibility of tragedy.  It was that limit that sent Jesus to the cross and it is that limit that allows drug dealers to prosper and drunk drivers to take out the innocent.

Our ability to choose love and righteousness also grants us the ability to choose sin and a destructive lifestyle – both for ourselves and others.  Unfortunately, many believers who have experienced the destructive side of free will have taken offense at God and have blamed him for their hurt or pain.  Their anger at God keeps them at arms length and prevents them from trusting him enough to discover the love, the healing and the freedom that are ours in Jesus.

There seem to be two basic categories of offense.  One is found in experiences where people feel as if justice has not been served. The offense is expressed in the statement that if God were just, bad things would not happen to good people and good things would not happen to bad people.  That struggle is not new to the hearts of righteous men.  Note a few excerpts from Ps. 73 below.

Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.  They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills.

This is what the wicked are like — always carefree, they increase in wealth. Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning. If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed your children. When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. (Psm.73:1-17).

This was a cry for justice from a man who served the Lord and struggled in life while those who gave God no thought seemed to prosper. In the end, the man realized that justice would be served when these men stood before the judgment seat of God. There are times when God’s kindness calls the wicked to repentance and times when the prince of this world grants success to those who serve him. Ultimately, however, every cry for justice by the people of God will be met for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God.

The second category of offense seems to lie in the arena of those who were victimized by hurtful or evil people.  Their cry is “If God is good, where was God when all that was being done to me?” Scripture also speaks to that question,

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. (Ps.34:18)

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (Ps.147:3)

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted. (Isa. 61:1)

You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry. (Ps.10:17)

God is not indifferent to the pain and victimization of his children. When hearts are broken and people are afflicted he is close and his purpose is to heal the hurts of those who have felt the sting of free will.  God did not introduce pain to this world. Man introduced pain when he said “yes” to Satan’s lies. Because of free will, God must stand aside in many cases while hurt and wrongs are inflicted.  But immediately, his heart is to bring healing and eventually justice.

Remember, Satan accused God in the Garden of Eden of withholding good from Adam and Eve when God was actually restraining sin and the inevitable consequences of rebellion.  Now Satan still accuses God of being the source of all pain and evil in the world even though Satan is that true source.  John tells us that Jesus came to “destroy the works of the devil.”  Jesus came to forgive and deliver us from eternal suffering.  He came to heal broken hearts and set captives free.  He came to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast our demons, grant peace to the tormented, and call for social justice.  The things he came to remedy are the works of the devil not the Father.

The key to finding healing and freedom in this life is a resolute commitment to the truth that God is good, he is good all the time, and his heart is to always bring about good for his children even when they have been afflicted and wounded by the enemy and those who serve him.

To believe that God is indifferent or that he visits disease and torment on the children he loves for some “sanctifying” motive takes the heart and faith out of our prayers. How can we pray for healing, deliverance from suffering, or release from a Chinese Re-education Camp if we think God may have willed that for our lives?

For those who have been angry with God and have kept their distance for a hurt or a loss they once experienced in this fallen world, I hope you will reconsider the source of that pain. Your Father in heaven is not that source and so wants to hold you close and heal your broken heart.  My hope is that you will soon lay down the anger and the offense you have felt and surrender to the love of God.