Counterfeit Christianty Part 11

This is the concluding part of this message, which we started last week. We went into it because many people are working behind their schedules and some have spent unprofitable time in incubation instead of doing what God wants them to do. In the last week’s edition, we said that the Lord wants us to become disciples and also, we began to look at the characteristics of a disciple, namely:

1. Hatred to self.

2. Hatred to worldliness.

3. Carrying your cross.

4. Forsaking all for Christ.

5. Continuity.

As I said last week, there are lots of receivers but few givers. There are lots of people who sing praise worship without the love of God in their hearts. A lot of pastors pastor only their bellies. A lot of ushers are ushering only themselves. There are lots of choristers who sing only for themselves while a lot of Sunday school teachers teach only themselves. The Lord does not want this situation to continue. We must always remember to ask ourselves the relevant question: “Art thou also one of this man’s disciples?” We now continue with the characteristics of a disciple:

6. Brokenness: This has to do with a lot of spiritual warfare. The three major elements of warfare are:

1. Dealing with the devil and his cohorts.

2. Taking control of your mind. Your mind is the greatest battlefield. You must establish a solid immigration control on the door of your mind, because if you lose the battle of the mind then you lose every battle.

3. Crucifying the flesh. The big truth is that satanic attacks cannot prosper against our lives if our flesh refuses to co-operate with them, as it is written in Colossians 3:5. If we daily mortify our flesh, the devil will have no landing place in our lives. If you are living a life that is dead to sin as the Scripture commands, you will not surrender to satanic suggestion; you will not respond to the temptations of the flesh because dead men do not respond to temptations. Dead men do not commit fornication. Dead men do not abuse people. Dead men are incapable of doing what people who are alive are doing. This is where the power of broken lives lies. When you live a life of brokenness, you will not be threatened by temptations rather the power behind the temptations will avoid you. But in a situation where you are threatened by temptations all the time, it means that you are not broken. A man may jump and shout at the devil all day but if he allows one area of his life to go unchecked or unguarded, he would be courting trouble. Big sins will not get many Christians to hell fire because many of them will not get involved in those ones; but the little ones such as little stealing, little lies, little malice, little prayer time, abusive words, critical spirit, etc. will push people to hell fire. If there is an area of sin in your life that you have not dealt with, the enemy will use it as a door to attack you and all the prayers against him will be to no avail. In such a case, the devil is not the real enemy but your carnal mind and flesh, which are not submitted to the Holy Spirit. Herein lies the trouble. This is where God is having problems. God will not force you to live the kind of life you want to live. It is a matter of choice. That is why Joshua stood before the Israelites and said, “I set before you this day, blessings and curses, death and life. Now chose the one you want.” It is a matter of choice.

THE BROKEN LIFE

A broken life can never be a raw material for the devil. A broken life knows the secret of the law. It is immune to satanic arrows. It will trample permanently on serpents and scorpions. It is a terror to demonic forces. When a broken life goes into a particular situation, demons walk out. A broken life will move under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. It will offer the devil no cooperation at all. It is dead to worldly opinions. If you are broken you would not be bothered about the comments of somebody in darkness on your dressing. Somebody in darkness should not dictate to the person in light how he should live his life. A broken life offers no protection to the enemies.

Unbroken ness will do your spiritual life a lot of harm. If you joke with brokenness it means that you are not a disciple. The Lord only uses broken things. Peter was a broken man. Anytime he made a mistake he agreed. The Bible says that when he denied the Lord, he went out and wept bitterly. When the Bible says that somebody wept bitterly, it must be a serious matter. Peter was carrying the power of God about because he was a broken man. “Art thou also that man’s disciple?” If you are truly His disciple, you would be broken. That thing inside you that makes you very annoyed wants to make you a child of the devil. It has to go. That thing that makes you to tell lies is turning you into a child of the devil who started lying from the beginning. There is no truth in him at all. “Art thou also that man’s disciple?” If you are, you are a correct representative of the body of Christ. If you are not, you are one of those whom the Lord is complaining about that they are moving behind schedule. You are also one of those blocking the prayers of the saints. You must move forward and become a disciple.