Taunting

August 6, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Coaches and parents especially don’t encourage those under their care to taunt their opponents. But the Bible does!

Seriously!

As a part of our P119 Spiritual Workout series, we looked at the section called Waw yesterday—

May Your unfailing love come to me, O Lord, Your salvation according to Your promise; then I will answer the one who taunts me, for I trust in Your Word. (Psalm 119:41-42)

“I will answer the one who taunts me.” How exactly do you answer the taunter? The word for answer here in Hebrew comes from the idea of “singing tunefully.”

You know how it feels when you have that perfect zinger—that great one-liner as a comeback to someone who’s tweaked you?

And you know how you don’t just say that zinger, but you add a musical note to it as well, just to add a little emphasis?

Well, this is what Christians can do to the devil when he taunts them! The book of Revelation tells us that satan is the accuser (the taunter) of the Christians, and that we overcome him by the blood of Jesus and the word of our testimony. But the psalmist says it’s not just plain old words, but the lilting sing-song, tuneful reply to his taunt.

We reply to our enemy’s taunts with a Scriptural-based tweak of our own. We can remind him of our total forgiveness in Christ. We can tell him how God loves us, and sent His Son to die for our sins, and how the Holy Spirit has been given to us as a deposit guaranteeing that we are now in Christ. We can use the Bible to tunefully taunt the taunter with the truth of God’s Word.

Don’t just silently take it when the enemy accuses you. Don’t get mad. But shut him up by answering him with a song right from God’s Word!

If you have missed any of the messages in our P119 series, you can access them all by clicking here.

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10 Quotes From The “Necessity Of An Enemy”

July 31, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I was intrigued by the title of the book: The Necessity Of An Enemy. But I was even more intrigued by what I read in Ron Carpenter’s thought-provoking book. You can read my full review by clicking here.

Here are 10 quotes that caught my eye from this book:

“You will never be an exceptional person if you only fight ordinary battles.”

“Because you have a God-given purpose, this means the devil’s painted a bull’s-eye on your back. …It’s good to have enemies and the trouble they bring—it means you’re in the game.”

“When Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians that ‘we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory’ (Ephesians 1:12), he didn’t tell them to just give God praise. He urged them to be a praise. … In New Testament terminology, glory actually means ‘likeness’ or ‘to resemble.’ In other words, for you to bring glory to God means that God is hard at work making you become something that resembles Him, something that more clearly bears His image. It comes as no surprise that this reality makes someone very upset: The devil isn’t concerned with fighting something that you’re doing; he fights who you’re becoming.”

“God’s definition of winning is fulfilled when you fight the battle and, after it’s over, you are even more established in the identity He designed for you.”

“God knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). … So the fact that He started the area of your life where you’re now facing a challenge from an enemy is the very evidence that He’ll bring you through the battle to complete the thing.”

“A good teacher does not use a test to teach you something…a test measures what you already know.”

“Negative people, allowed to speak into your life, will become agents of destruction of your purpose. An enemy will always try to weaken your passion for your dream.”

“Sometimes it’s easier to super-spiritualize something and blame the devil than to understand a need or personal flaw and take ownership for it.”

“An enemy is someone who increases, strengthens, encourages, or enables an area of weakness in you that God wants to remove from your life.”

“In your progress toward God’s purpose for you, anything you hang onto that God wants you to drop is an enemy.”

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The Necessity Of An Enemy (book review)

July 30, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Have you ever wished that all of your enemies were totally defeated? Have you ever prayed to ask God to defeat all of your enemies? I’ll be honest with you: I have. But according to Ron Carpenter, Jr. that may not be the best prayer for you. In fact, his book might say the exact opposite; it’s called The Necessity Of An Enemy.

Ron uses his personal story of being attacked and personally vilified to show us—as the subtitle states—how the battle you face is your best opportunity. Near the beginning of the book, Ron states:

“I have some important news for you: to fulfill your purpose and stay true to your calling, you’ll need to understand the reason for enemies. If you do that, then when they rise up against you, you will quickly recognize what’s happening.” 

Many of the enemies we face are to prepare us for the greater purpose for which God created us. We cannot simply run away from every battle or ask God to subdue every enemy we face, because those battles and enemies may be preparing us for something greater. Think about David: before he fought Goliath, he had to learn his stone-slinging skills by fighting off a lion and a bear. What if he had asked God to simply scare away the lion, or strike the bear dead? What would David had learned from that?

This book is divided into several sections, and each section has several very short chapters. This format, combined with the study guide at the back of the book, makes it ideal for applying the principles slowly in your life, or for having a great small group discussion with others.

God wants you to be victorious, but He doesn’t want you to take shortcuts to get there. He allows enemies to help build your spiritual skills, and The Necessity Of An Enemy can be a great part of your battle strategy as well.

I am a Waterbrook book reviewer.

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Victory!

May 2, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Twice in Romans 7, the Apostle Paul uses the phrase “but sin, seizing the opportunity” (vv. 8, 11).

Sin always seizes any opportunity it gets. The devil always prowls around looking for an opportunity to tempt and destroy. And my flesh is always only too eager to give in to the pull of sin and the devil (v. 25).

If we want victory over sin and the devil, we have to be AWARE and be PREPARED.

“When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left Jesus until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13).

The devil will bide his time.

“…satan has asked to sift you as wheat…” (Luke 22:31).

It’s not always the big shakings that will cause us to sin, but the little siftings can wear us down.

“Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith…” (1 Peter 5:8-9).

“Keep awake and watch and pray constantly, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38).

If you haven’t been tempted lately, or if you’ve recently overcome a temptation, stay humble. “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:12).

And then stay ready: “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11).

A warrior in a combat zone never has a single day he is without his armor.

There’s a time to take a stand against the devil: “So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

And there’s a time to run toward something else: “Shun youthful lusts and flee from them, and aim at and pursue righteousness…” (2 Timothy 2:22).

Victory is yours IF you will be aware and be prepared. You don’t have to give in to the devil’s temptation to sin! Fight victoriously today!

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Pain May Be A Good Thing

January 25, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Yesterday I posted the following on Facebook, which generated quite a few positive responses—

“God may not recall the soldier from the battle, but if He gives him a greater stomach for the fight, and increased strength for its toils, it may be better still for him” (Spurgeon). Think about it: If God has left you in the battle, He will give you the strength to be victorious. Either way, you come out stronger AND God is glorified!

Since several commented on Facebook or emailed or texted me with words like, “That’s just what I needed to hear right now,” I thought I would add a couple additional thoughts for you.

“Let’s be honest, 90% of our prayers revolve around personal comfort, not God’s glory. Too often we try to pray away every problem. But what if that is the very thing that God wants to leverage for His glory? Let’s not be too quick to pray away the pain, the suffering, the situation, the problem. Let’s not just pray ‘get me out’ prayers. We sometimes need to pray ‘get me through’ prayers.

“We need a paradigm-shift in our prayer lives. It’s not about us. It’s all about God. And when you begin to pray for God’s glory above and beyond everything else it’s a game changer! You no longer pray away every problem. You pray through the problem. You know that God might do a miracle, but that isn’t the goal. The goal is God’s glory. And if suffering with grace yields more glory to God then so be it.” —Mark Batterson, in The Circle Maker

And finally, this prayer thought—

“Do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle; but you shall be a miracle.” —Phillips Brooks

If you need someone to stand with you as you “pray through” your battle, let me know. I would be honored to join my prayers with yours.

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Devilish Scheming

June 28, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

If you’ve ever locked horns with the devil in spiritual warfare, you know that he’s a schemer. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth to remind them that we shouldn’t be unaware of his scheming. And Peter said that the devil is always on the prowl, like a scheming lion looking for a place to attack.

So it should come as no surprise that since my message was about unity in the Body of Christ that the devil’s scheming would be to bring about disunity. There was just a weird mood happening yesterday. In fact, in our pre-service prayer time, I felt prompted to pray out loud that God would knock down any distractions to what the Holy Spirit wanted to do.

I saw it coming … I prayed hard against it … and my prayers knocked down the enemy before he could fully implement his devilish scheme.

Well, not exactly.

Yes, I did feel prompted to pray against distractions, but I should have been praying against disunity too. As a result, I could feel the fight all morning. It would be more accurate to say that I could feel something all morning. It wasn’t until I got home and commented to Betsy about what I had been feeling that I got clued in. She said, “What did you expect? You were talking about unity today, so obviously the devil is going to attack that very thing.”

Duh! Why didn’t I see that? I’m so grateful for a godly wife who catches these things for me.

But I learned something yesterday. I learned that my prayers need to be more specifically-targeted prayers. Sort of like the “smart bombs” our military uses that are laser-guided right on target. Like Paul said, I’m not going to be unaware of the devilish scheming.

Spiritual warfare is always hard work, which is why in Paul’s teaching on spiritual warfare he told us to keep on praying for each other.

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No Casualties

May 27, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

The Israelites had just returned from a huge military victory over the Midianites and the military commanders brought this report to Moses:

Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one is missing.

When God is with the soldiers, they have zero causalities. Zero.

Throughout the Bible, the only time casualties are mentioned is: (1) when the battle is of their own undertaking, or (2) the people have sinned and God allows an enemy to attack them.

God’s battle

in God’s timing

with God’s help

= No casualties!

If you are in a battle that you started, or if you are in a battle because you walked away from God, your best defense is to run to God in repentance.

But if God brought you to this fight, don’t run. Stand firm. He will bring you the victory with no casualties.

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Let God Choose Your Battles

April 7, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

God wants you to be successful. If you call yourself His follower, why would He want you to ever suffer a defeat? He wants His name to be glorified, so He wants you to be successful.

So let Him choose your battles for you. He knows what you can handle. Let Him pick the time, the place, and the method for your battles.

  • His way might be longer than you would like it to be, but His timing is better.
  • His place may not be your place for battle, but His place is better.
  • His methods might not be what you would choose, but His ways are better.

Check this out:

When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. (Exodus 13:17-18)

I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land. (Exodus 23:27-30)

God told me, “And don’t try to pick a fight with the Moabites. I am not giving you any of their land. … When you approach the People of Ammon, don’t try and pick a fight with them because I’m not giving you any of the land of the People of Ammon for yourselves.” (Deuteronomy 2:9, 19)

Are you in a battle now? If God brought you to this point, hang in there because He will give you the victory. Don’t try to pick a fight in territory God hasn’t given you. Wait for His timing, His place, and His method of victory.

If you’re in a battle now, let me know, and I’d be honored to stand with you in prayer.

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Specificity

February 22, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Sometimes only a big word will do. Specificity means something particularly fitted to a use or purpose. In pharmacology terms, it is a remedy intended for a particular ailment or disorder, or the selective influence of one substance on another.

In other words, the medicine is targeted for a selected pain or disease.

Yesterday at Calvary Assembly of God we heard a powerful word from our guest speaker Jeff Hlavin. But one thought from Jeff has been particularly working on me. He said, “The enemy fires his darts at your most vulnerable places.” Or said another way: the enemy is specific in his targeting.

My defense against the attack of the enemy is prayer. But my best defense is prayer with specificity.

Perhaps something like this:

  • In praying for Bethany, I’m not just praying for healing from cancer, but healing from neuroblastoma.
  • In praying for Brody who has Pierre Robin Syndrome, I’m praying with specificity for his lower jaw to continue to grow to its proper size. And in the meantime, that he will not experience any problems with choking.
  • In praying for friends whose marriage is in trouble, I’m praying specifically for healing from past mistakes, for open lines of communication, and for a willingness to seek out professional counseling.
  • In praying for a young man who is in a soul-searching time, I’m targeting my prayers at the low self-esteem issues he’s battling.

Let’s not just pray; let’s pray with specificity. The devil is targeting his attacks deliberately; let’s target our prayers just as deliberately.

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The Least-Attended Church Service…

January 6, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

…and quite possibly my least-popular blog post.

Just to give you a chance to bail out right now: (1) This blog post is about prayer, and (2) I’m going to offend you.

In every church I’ve ever attended or been associated with, the least-attended gathering is the prayer meeting. Guaranteed. When the pastor says, “We’re going to gather just to prayer,” people stay away. Want to hear something else painful? Jim Cymbala nailed it in Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire:

“You can tell how popular a church is by who comes on Sunday morning. You can tell how popular the pastor or evangelist is by who comes on Sunday night. You can tell how popular Jesus is by who comes to the prayer meeting.”

Jesus knew this, too. When He had a prayer meeting with His followers, they couldn’t even stay awake!

Here are four reasons why I think this is true:

1.  Prayer has no entertainment value. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we go to church to be entertained, but there is a certain element of that in a typical church service: we listen to good music, laugh at a humorous video, engage with an effective sermon. We’re largely passive, just absorbing what’s going on.

2.  Prayer is hard work. We’re doing spiritual battle, and everything in our flesh is going to fight against this. Prayer requires physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual energy. It’s draining work.

3.  We want immediate visible results. In our microwave, cellular phone, on-the-go world, we want everything faster and faster. Something is happening when we pray, but we may not see the results of our prayers immediately.

4.  Prayer is naked communication. We’re talking to the All-Knowing Creator of the Universe. There is a certain level of discomfort when we come into God’s presence. Adam and Eve hid when they knew their sins would be seen by God, and we have a tendency to avoid God’s presence for the same reason.

Perhaps this is why Jesus said if just two of us come together in prayer He would be right there with us. I think Jesus knew that prayer meetings wouldn’t attract the large crowds of a concert or even a Sunday morning church service. So if just two people got together who wanted to do the hard work of praying, He would be right there.

If your church, like ours, is kicking off this new year with a time of prayer, don’t become discouraged by the lack of attendance. Keep on praying—Jesus is right there with you.

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