Scripture reading: Mark 5:1-15
The first weapon of our warfare is the WORD. Jesus Christ said, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life!” (John 6:63b).
You speak a spirit into life. In Mark 5:8 Jesus said, “Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.” A Spirit came out from Jesus and drove the devil out of the man. It says that the man was “…clothed, and in his right mind” (verse 15). If Jesus did not have the necessary force in Him to issue this power out of him, then nothing would happen; but when He spoke the Word, the Word came with force of Spirit—Spirit force! Spirit was created, came out and did the job! Now what gave Jesus that power? The power came from the Father. The power came through the Father, through Jesus’ spirit, through His soul, and through His body.
I always liked to go out hunting, but I could never shoot the poor little birds. I would go out with the gun and catch myself just admiring the birds and not shooting. One day, I made up my mind that I was going to shoot this time, because I just couldn’t go home without getting something. So I saw some doves and crept on my belly with the gun. Then I made my aim. When I fired, the gun went, “Psshh!” just a big puff of smoke. The bird looked at me and took off.
What do you think happened? You can see that I never learned to crawl with a gun. While crawling, I got the muzzle full of dirt and when I fired it just went, “Psshh!” Some of our muzzles are full of dirt. This is why we cannot shoot the enemy! The hindrance is in the soul! Oh God, help us!
If you have something against someone, it is a hindrance to your soul! Wife and husband, try your best not to go to bed with anything against each other. You must clear up anything that is wrong. If you have a thought that is not right on the level, then get it cleared up. You thought your wife tricked you; you thought she said something that was not right. Get it cleared up before you go to bed! If you don’t, your muzzle will be full of dirt. You will not be able to fight.
God wants your word to be so powerful that the energy that comes out of you will break the backs of the enemies! Because of this, the first thing the devil does is to try to get one brother against another, or one sister against another. Somebody says something; they did not mean anything harmful, but it was repeated to that one, and it got over to that one, and it got bigger, and bigger, and bigger—until a mountain comes between you! Brethren, let us get wise! Matured people do not allow it. If you hear that your brother said something against you, then ask him, “Why did you say so and so against me? I heard that you said so and so.” He replies, “Who told you that?” “Oh, it was John that told me.” Do you know what that does if you tell him who told you? Nobody is going to tell you anything anymore unless they want you to fix it, because you are not going to hide them. By going to the one who you heard has spoken against you, you will keep yourself clean! Whether the other person wants to have something against you or not, you clear yourself! “I have nothing against you. I have no bad feelings. I never said a wrong thought against you,” or “I did say one wrong thought against you, for which I am sorry.”
Have you ever heard about something we call “The trap of fools”? Let me tell you about this trap of fools. It goes like this: I come to you and say, “Brother, that brother said that you have a bald head,” and you say, “But how could that brother say I have a bald head? Look at his head! Doesn’t he know that in a few years’ time he will be bald like I am?” Then I leave you, go to the other brother and say, “Hey buddy, watch that brother over there. He said that you are soon going to be bald.”
Now the brother does not know what caused you to say that and he says, “But why should he say that? Look at him! Look at him!” So he gets mad over you and really upset and then he says something against you! The person comes back and says, “Brother, Pete is against you. Watch yourself with Pete because Pete said that you cannot even walk straight,” and so on.
This is the work of a demon, but some people do it! Some people do the work of demons. This is called “The trap of fools.” The first thing when something like this happens to you it to obey the Word of God and go to the brother, and say, “Why did you say that I would soon be bald?” Then, when he explains it to you and you realize why it was said, forgive the brother and stop the trap of fools. It is a trap that is set for anybody who is naive!
(Excerpt from The Omega Message, January 1997, pg. 9-10)
Thought for today: Let us be wise and follow the ordinances of the Word of God so that we do not fall into the trap of fools but keep our gun clean.
Sonlight Devotional 