People who use their natural minds to discern spiritual things flood the airwaves and pulpits and fill the pews of our churches. You will know them by their fruit. They tell us we need to know who we are in Christ. They entice us to take our so-called rightful place in Christ and command everything from the weather to the devil. They say we must never tell God how big our problems are, and that we should rather tell our problems how big our God is. In short, they twist the good news of the gospel of Christ and turn it into a ritual of mind games.
When our only son’s body was being ravaged for approximately fifteen months by Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, I never told the devil how big my God is. I never cared what he thought or knew. On the contrary, I told God how big my problem was. Even after the Lord revealed that He would heal my son, doubt would creep in from time to time when I was least expecting it, and, when it did, I would go straight to the Lord and confess my doubt. I didn’t blame the devil and rebuke him. I was the one with the doubt, so I went straight to the hills from whence cometh my help and asked for mercy, and each time the One who loves me forgave and comforted me.
The ridiculous cliché, ‘Don’t tell God how big your mountain is, tell your mountain how big your God is,’ is just that, a ridiculous cliché. Oh, it’s a cute little play on words, but it is also a hindrance to a Christian. It is a ploy of Satan to entice us into mind games with him, thereby preventing us from seeking the Lord and trusting in Him.
I am not insinuating that everyone who uses this cliché is of the devil. I am saying the cliché itself has its origin in the evil one. It was designed by Satan himself to draw people away from God. And somewhere along the line Satan found some preacher with a tendency to appeal to the emotions of the natural man, and planted this cliché in that preacher’s mind, and he began using it. And now, today, many more who walk in their natural minds have picked it up and are spreading it around as if it were gospel. But they are wrong, it is not gospel, it is the opposite of the gospel. It is anti-christ. It is a tool of the devil.
The devil’s thoughts and notions appeal to the pride of the flesh. Consider this: Nearly everything that spews from the mouths of those who use the devil’s thoughts, notions, and clichés is meant to uplift their hearers to a place equal with God. And their hearers inevitably walk away reviling angelic majesties, completely ignoring the fact that Michael the archangel did not dare pronounce a railing judgment against the devil. Like unreasoning animals they revile things which they do not understand, all the while thinking they are doing the work of God. They have turned off the narrow path and are headed down a wide road that leads to destruction. One cannot lift himself up to God’s level and escape destruction.
Still these people march on, thinking themselves to be equal with God, rebuking and reviling, as if they have unlimited authority. You may be thinking, “I hear people rebuking Satan in the name of Jesus all the time. Are they wrong?” In reply, I ask you, “Have you ever seen it work? Does Satan turn tail and run when they do this? What about those who bind Satan in Jesus name? Has that ever worked?” Absolutely not! To this day he continues to prowl about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Does this mean there is no power in the name of Jesus? God forbid! It means those who do this are clouds without rain. They are those who are tossed about by every wind of doctrine that comes along, reviling where they have no knowledge or understanding.
This is very serious. The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. It is already the hour for us to awaken from sleep. We must lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. We must lay aside the thoughts, notions, and clichés that insinuate we are equal in any way with God. Even the thought that we have the authority of Christ began when someone leaned on his own understanding, and, coerced by Satan, subverted Scriptures and added words that didn’t exist. We were never meant to walk in authority, we were meant to walk by faith in humble obedience to our Lord; and our faith is not in ourselves, or in what we may have, but in Christ who has conquered and overcome the world.
People who entertain the thoughts, notions, and clichés of Satan live their lives wearing blinders in an effort to keep reality at bay. Rather than admit their efforts don’t work, they continue blindly from one failure to another because they think their blind loyalty to their dogmas is actually faith. But rather than exercising faith, they are actually just following the crowd. Most mega-churches and most non-denominational churches are filled with people who are looking for shortcuts to spiritual things and they go where they will hear what they want to hear. Thus they flock to preachers who tell them such things as, “You have all authority in heaven and on earth, and you can heal all sicknesses and diseases at will, and you can speak into being whatever you want in your life; you can declare and decree whatever you want.”
I submit to you now in the sight of God that all this is straight from hell, and any and all who continue down this road, whether preaching it or believing it, are working together with Satan. Thanks be to God His elect hear His voice and will not follow a stranger.
True faith is not a mind over matter tool, it is the substance of what is hoped for, it is the evidence of what is not seen. It has nothing to do with mind over matter, and nothing to do with claiming a promise. Faith is found in Jesus and rests in the integrity of God; if you believe in God’s integrity, why would you even consider claiming a promise? Why would you rebuke or bind the devil? Is he stronger than God? If so, then we are just beating the air; if not, then why bother with him? Instead of binding and rebuking the devil and instead of claiming a promise, why not just believe the Lord. That is what He asks of us. All this other stuff is not of the Spirit, but of the flesh, and perpetrated by Satan.
Please weigh these things on the scales of the Word of God.
Jon David Banks, Gd’s most unworthy servant
jondavidbanks.com 