KNOW THE STRATAGEM OF YOUR ENEMY!
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
I. PEOPLE NEVER PLAN TO FAIL, THEY FAIL BECAUSE
THEY NEVER DEVELOPED A PLAN.
A. Without a plan people drift where ever the current flows.
B. Without a game plan how can you evaluate where you are as compared to where you need to be?
B. We need to clearly articulate our values and belief system to define our overall purpose and establish a COURSE of ACTION.
C. Then we must follow our plan. Adapt it where needed, and set clear goals.
D. Long term goals and short term goals must be evaluated and we must press on against all obstacles.
E. Without a Course of Action (COA) we will be DOA, dead upon arrival.
Habakkuk 2:2 And the Lord answered me, and said:
write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
II. THERE IS AN ADVANTAGE TO KNOWING YOUR OPPONENTS PLAN.
A. Did you read about the college football program that painted their opponents locker room pink? They wanted to send a message to those against them.
B. Several years ago a college football program hid microphones all around their opponents locker room. Before the game, and at half time, there were spies
listening to their opponents game plan and strategy so they would know how to counter whatever the coach planned.
The coach had an advantage by having someone listen to the other teams plan, and then developing a plan to counter their attack.
He knew the game plan, the stratagem and thus used it to help them gain advantage over the opponent.
C. We would do wise to study and know our enemy’s plans against us, and prepare our hearts for his attack!
D. Remember the A TEAM on TV?
They would always say: "I LOVE IT WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER!"
III. DO WE HAVE A STRATEGY?
DO WE KNOW OUR ENEMIES STRATEGY?
A. Strategy:
***The science and art of command exercised to meet the enemy’s combat under advantageous conditions.
***A science of making plans.
***A careful plan or method, clever stratagem. ***Modus operandi
***A stratagem toward goals.
***A style toward attaining a goal.
B. YOU CAN NOT WIN MANY GAMES WITH A CHANGING GAME PLAN.
IV. GOD HAS A STRATAGEM FOR LIFE!
OUR ENEMY HAS A THREE FOLD STRATAGEM!
Have you prepared for battle?
John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to STEAL, and to KILL, and to DESTROY: but I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
A. KILL: (To kill is breaking God’s commandment.)
***To deprive of life ***To slaughter
***To put to an end ***To defeat
***To cause to stop ***To cause extreme pain
***To tire to the point of collapse ***To waste
***To hit so hard a return is impossible
***To take a life ***To eliminate
B. STEAL: (To steal is breaking a commandment!)
***To take from another wrongfully as a habit or regular practice
***To sneak in gradually or unexpected
***To take without the right or leave with intent to keep or make use of wrongfully
***To take away by force without permission
***To seize, gain, or win by trickery
***A fraudulent or questionable deal
1. Sin is trading treasures for trinkets that sparkle pretty, but are useless! Perhaps we have wrongful priority systems?
2. LISTEN TO MY SAD STORY?
I lived in the most south western corner of Virginia.
Our county was rich in history. I started collecting arrow heads.
I studied them, and over some time I had a beautiful collection.
I had bear points, rabbit points, bird points, I had scrappers, I had a hammer and wedge, I had a wonderful collection of Indian history.
When I started pastoring, I proudly hung my collection in my office at church where others could enjoy it.
I loved sharing the memories and the history with people.
My collection was impressive and I had turned down some large monetary offers for my collection.
Let me tell you about my collection now?
I have a few arrow heads now.
My wonderful collection which was to go to my sons was stolen right out of the church, right out of my locked office.
Some woman broke into the church, her muddy shoe prints were left in the hall way and my office, and she stole my collection.
Down through the years I gave many arrow heads away.
Some of the people I had given an arrow head to, heard I was robbed, and they brought me the arrow heads I had given them.
3. TODAY ALL I HAVE OF MY ARROW HEAD COLLECTION WAS
WHAT I GAVE AWAY?
4. Where you bank can protect you from stealing?
Matthew 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also.
C. DESTROY:
***RAZE ***ERASE ***Pull down ***Knock down
***To ruin the existence or condition ***annihilate
***To tear to sheds ***neutralize ***havoc
V. LET US LOOK AT A LARGER PICTURE OF OUR ENEMY’S
STRATAGEM!
A. DIGRESSION IS PART OF THE ENEMY’S PLAN!
WE QUIT REACHING UP AND STAY IN THE QUICKSAND.
Philippians 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
1. DIGRESS
***TO TURN ASIDE FROM THE MAIN SUBJECT OF ATTENTION OR
COURSE OF ACTION.
***To stray from an idea ***Wander
***Go off on a tangent
*** To get sidetracked
2. Your priorities will determine your direction!
3. Negative thinking tends to produce negative thinking.
Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; AND ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED UNTO YOU.
4. Because we have misplaced priorities we often have sad memories of lost opportunities.
Did you know some lost opportunities can never be recalled?
5. I know a smart young person. Their potential is great.
They applied great effort and thrived in high school.
In this little family no one had ever reached for the stars of higher education. The opportunity was there for this individual to advance.
The college doors opened and some of the family dreamed big.
Some problem came up, but there was a solution.
The person sold their potential, got a minimum paying job, found the opposite sex and spent all the available time playing.
And now they will forever be trapped supporting and raising kids at a young age. Now that is wonderful if that was your potential, but it becomes a trap and the dreams fade quickly.
6. A GOOD ATTITUDE IS A CHOICE!
7. Rebecca Arnett and old friend used to testify:
NO SADDER WORDS OF PEN OR TONGUE,
THAN THE WORDS WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN?
B. DIVERSION--- WE CAN SUBSTITUDE AND EXCUSE OUR
BEHAVIOR. DIVERSION IS OUR ENEMY’S INTENTION!
1. Have you ever played in the sand looking at pebbles and missed seeing the ocean?
2. OUR EMOTIONS CAN PLAY GAMES IN OUR HEAD, AND DIVERT
OUR FAITH FROM ACTION.
3. DIVERT:
***To seek entertainment and pleasure over what is rightfully needed.
***Entertaining nonworking activities ***Playtime ***Fun time
***Detour
***To chase pleasure by distracting the attention from burdens
***To turn in an opposite direction
***To deviate ***To be distracted
***To turn aside
4. THE MAIN THING IS TO KEEP THE MAIN THING THE MAIN
THING!
HOW CAN YOU KEEP THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING IF
YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOUR MAIN THING IS?
5. WE DIVERT OUR GIVING AND TITHES TO OTHER SOURCES?
Once a man told me, he could not afford to pay his tithes, he had purchased a huge bass boat, and his tithes made the payment.
6. Read Malachi,
Malachi 3: 8 Will men rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed God? IN TITHES AND OFFERINGS.
THERE IS A CLEAR WARNING?
MALACHI 3: 9 YE ARE CURSED WITH A CURSE:
FOR YE HAVE ROBBED ME, EVEN THIS WHOLE NATION.
7. There are some people that tithe their own self or their own ministry, this is highway robbery! God knows.
You tithe and God will bless you and the return comes from God.
8. We forget God keeps good records of our giving, our words and our deeds.
9. No one would ever do wrong without excusing and justifying the wrong.
The bank robber says this money is insured, no one will be hurt.
The one looking at pornography blames their spouse.
10. WE DIVERT OUR ACCOUNTABILITY OF TIME USAGE TO
I HAVE PLENTY OF TIME, LET’S EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY.
C. DIVISON --- SEPERATION AND ISOLATION IS THE OBJECT
OF OUR ENEMY’S EFFORTS.
1. Divide:
DI MEANS TWO --- TWO VISONS
DI-VORCE separate, dissolve marriage, to leave in two directions.
***DISAGREEMENT
***to separate ***To be apart ***Opposing sides
***To be disunited ***Disunity ***To keep apart
***Terminate existing friendships
2. General Sherman knew the way to break the south was to divide it and conquer. They developed the Anaconda Plan.
Sherman would march through the south, burning and dividing the communication and transportation system.
DIVIDE AND CONQUER.
Mark 3:24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
3. We divide groups into rich and poor, young and old, male and female, educated and ignorant, single and married, and many such classifications. This is OK as long as we are still part of the whole.
We must come together in an UNION!
D. DEATH --- PARALYZSIS IS A SATANIC AIM!
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
1. DEATH
***PERMANENT CESSATION OF ALL VITAL FUNCTIONS
***The end of life ***Barren ***Doomed
***Lacking power to move, to feel, or respond
***To be numb or very tired
***Not capable of being stirred
***No longer producing
***Being out of action
***Being unplugged from power source
2. PARALYZE:
***To make powerless or ineffective
***To remove all feelings and sensations
***Unable to move or make decisions.
3. Once I was chaplain in a hospital.
The patient died. The doctor stepped out into the hallway and told the family their loved one was deceased.
The doctor left, and the family just stood there talking.
I understood they did not understand what the doctor had said.
I went to the doctor and asked him to return and tell the family their loved one was dead.
The doctor told the family and they started crying very loud.
VI. LET US STUDY AND BE AWARE OF OUR ENEMY’S STRATAGEMS.
A. A GOOD PLAN CAN LEARN FROM THE MISTAKES OF OTHERS!
Our enemy has no new tricks to pull on people, he uses the same ones over and over.
We still accept the bitterness and anger that Cain was motivated by.
We still yet to the jealousy and envy of that first killing, a brother
taking his brothers life.
CAIN THEN HID BEHIND A QUESTION: AM I MY BROTHER’S KEEPER?
B. WE THINK WE CAN USE DRUGS AND ALCOHOL AND HAVE A LOT
OF FUN.
Ask that man that was driving DRUNK the wrong way and killed 27 people in the bus wreck.
No man ever planned to become an alcoholic and losing his family?
C. MANY THINK THEY CAN PLAY WITH PORNOGRAPHY AND
NEVER GET CAUGHT?
D. CAN I SELL YOU THIS LINE: SAFE SEX?
Marriage is the only safe sex in the world.
We play games with sexual sin and lust like there are no consequences?
That beautiful young person dying of aids?
That young lady planning on being a doctor, has a baby and never finishes high school?
That new born baby sick from Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD’s) or dying from aids and the baby is innocent.
That young couple that says I don’t need a piece of paper to be committed?
How about the stupid words that oral sex is not sex?
Then why do they call it oral sex?
E. IT IS A BAD STRATAGEM THAT ALLOWS FOR NO MODIFICATION.
THE GREAT GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHER KNEW THE PLAN WAS
NOT WORKING WELL. SO HIS PLAN ALLOWED FOR R & R, REST AND RELAXATION. WITH A PROPHETIC WORD, I SHALL RETURN.
THEY RETURNED AND WON!
VII. SO YOU HAVE A SCAR?
YOUR SCAR TESTIFIES OF SURVIVAL!
A. WHEN HE REMINDS YOU OF YOUR PAST,
REMIND HIM OF HIS FUTURE.
B. QUIT HITTING YOURSELF WITH THE BIG STICK?
C. PLANS FOR THE FUTURE ARE VERY POOR IF THEY ARE BASED
SOLELY ON THE PAST!
In 1968 I did a stupid teenager sin.
I remember very well the sin. I repented immediately with many tears.
I repented the next day, and the next day. I went to the altar the next service and cried and quietly repented at church.
I knew I had broken God’s law, and my heart was broken because I had broken God’s heart.
Every time I would remember this sin I would repent and ask the Lord to forgive me.
Two years later, in 1970, I was a freshman in college. I was driving down the road in east Tennessee and I remembered my foolish stupid sin.
I again repented.
I returned to my room under great condemnation for this bad behavior.
I was sitting in a recliner and I had a dream.
I was walking down a dirt road and there was Jesus before me.
In my dream Jesus was sitting on a rock, and I saw Him.
I refused to lift my head and look Him in the eye. I knew I had failed my Savior and disappointed Him.
He had a huge book in His hand, and was thumbing through the pages.
He asked me what was wrong, and I said, Jesus you know, I failed you January 1, 1968.
Jesus kept thumbing through the pages, and I drew close enough I could see on the top of the pages there were dates.
I saw several dates in 1957, 1961, and as Jesus neared 1967 he slowed down. Then the page January 1, 1968 was before my precious Savior, and I hung my head in shame.
Jesus’ looked me in the eye, and said HUUUUMMM!
I thought OH, NO, I am in big trouble.
Jesus said, There is nothing here, there is no sin here!
I said, Yes, there is, I know there is sin there!
I reached and looked down and sure enough January 1, 1968 was white as snow, there was no record of any wrong there.
I asked Jesus, How can this be?
He said, You repented and asked Me to forgive you that evening, and I forgave you.
He went on to say, I can’t remember what you did that day, for the sins are covered by My Blood and that is washed as white as snow. It is removed as far as from the east to the west.
I said, Jesus, I have one question? If you can’t remember this, why don’t you remove it from my memory? You could!
Jesus replied to me, If I removed this pain from your conscience you might easily return and do this sin again. I leave this sin in your memory so you will not do it again.
I thanked Jesus, He hugged me, and I awoke and thought about what had happened.
That day God’s only Son set me free from my past.
If our enemy reminds you of your past, remind him, Jesus forgives, and we LET HIM.
Remind our enemy his future, we have read the end of the book, we know where he is headed.
Now, will you make the enemy leave you alone regarding your past?
GOD FORGIVES --- LET HIM!
THIS STUDY DOES NOT TRY TO LOOK BY WHAT LITTLE METHODS
AND MEANS OUR ENEMY ATTACKS US. BUT WE LOOK AT AN
OVERALL VIEW OF HIS TACTICS.
His servant, Wade martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
Pass this on?
