Be Careful What You Show Your Enemy

By: Donna J. Kazenske

Have you ever been set up by the enemy? Have you ever given in to his demonic schemes and deceptive devices because of lack of spiritual perception and divine guidance? Well, don’t feel like the lone ranger, because all of us have succumbed to the enemy’s divisive plans at one time or other. However, the Lord desires that His people be trained and empowered by His Spirit to discern and walk in spiritual perception. It is not God’s will that we be ignorant of the enemy’s devices. The Lord desires His people to learn how to use the weapons that He has given to us so that we can demolish the enemy’s strongholds in our lives. There is no better time to learn than now, especially when it comes to learning battle strategies against the enemy. Time is short and our defenses must be built up in order to protect us from future assault and attacks. The Bible warns us that even the very elect can be deceived if they are not careful.

Isaiah 39:1-2 – At that time Merodach Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. And Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them the house of his treasures – the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all his armory – all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

Hezekiah was a godly king who lacked spiritual discernment and perception. In the Scripture verses above, we find him accepting a present from Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon. Now, at first glance, we might think that this was a great gesture on the part of Merodach Baladan; however, we must also understand that Babylon was not Hezekiah’s friend, but his enemy.

Sometimes our enemy can be very subtle in his attacks against us. He knows how to appeal to our flesh, and he knows how to write sweet letters of love and affection with wrong heart motives and plans of injustice. Be careful when your enemy embraces you with one arm and stabs you in the back with the other.

Christians should be exercising their spiritual senses on a daily basis just as men in the army do when they are being trained for battle. The church is in a war against spiritual darkness. If we don’t prepare ourselves now, there is a good possibility that we will lose the battle when it’s time for us to stand up and fight. How can we fight if we are not prepared to do so? How can we wage war in battle if we do not know how to use our weapons of war?

Hezekiah was pleased with the letters and the present given to him by Merodach Baladan. He was so pleased that he showed his enemy his entire house of treasures, including the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all his armory. If there’s one thing that anyone in their right mind should know, it is the fact that we should not show our enemy our armory, our weapons of battle! Hezekiah found pleasure in showing everything that he had to his enemy. How could he do such a thing? What was he thinking?

I believe the church today is guilty of doing the very same thing that Hezekiah did. How many times have we shown the enemy our treasures or our sources of strength? Once the enemy finds out our source of strength, he will take it from us! Remember Sampson and Delilah? Delilah was a “gift” that was given to Sampson by the Philistines. The Philistines were his enemy! The gift appealed to his fleshly appetite. Delilah was used by the enemy as a seducer to find out where Sampson’s strength came from. She seduced him, deceived him, and eventually turned him over to the enemy for his destruction. Beware of what “gift” the enemy is attempting to give you. The gift may come wrapped in a beautiful package, but the body of Christ must have discernment and be able to determine beyond the natural, beyond the fleshly, into the realm of the Spirit. We should be able to discern who is giving the package and why it is being given.

The church today must be very careful in dealing with the enemy. We must not allow the enemy to overcome us by appeasing our flesh. We must be able to discern, by the Spirit, what he is up to and learn how to quickly stand against his destructive ploys. Christians must not be quick to give in to the enemy. We must not be so ignorant as to allow the enemy to come in and see all of our treasures or our sources of strength. Once the enemy sees what we have, he will then devise a way to take it from us. The enemy never gives something for nothing. He always wants something in return.