I heard this phrase, “a seamless canopy” used in an online prayer recently, and I cannot begin to tell you how much it resonated with my heart, particularly after a rather unpleasant encounter with an online shyster (though he definitely wrote a lot of the right words).  Rather than defeated, I feel educated and more aware of the enemy’s (satan) strategies.  And instead of cowering in shame for my naiveté, I am going to share some of the things I learned with you.

And lest you think, “that could never happen to me”, I have a scripture for you:  “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12).    

Because:                                                                                                                                               The Holy Spirit warns us through the apostle Paul to “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles [strategies] of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11).

Satan is deceitfully cunning and strategic—and he is brutal.  Fix in your mind the images that appeared in the news recently of Christians beheaded for their faith and realize that our enemy would like to do that and even more to every follower of Christ.  We do have the amazing confidence, though, that we are of God and “He who is in [us] is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).  And we cling to the knowledge that, “If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?…Who is he who condemns?  It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us” (Romans 8:31-32, 34).  “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?…Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:35, 37).

Facebook has some pretty good security measures one can take to protect their account against intruders.  I thought mine were set high enough and I could recognize when some unsavory character sent me a friend request (I have since changed my settings to “only friends of friends” who can send me friend requests).  I also did not realize that anyone could view my profile page (I thought it was set so that only friends could)—that has changed now, too.

I also understand that there can be areas in our lives where our “security settings” may be much lower than we think, where demonic predators can stalk us and pull punches that we just do not see coming.  Areas where abuse once defined us, sin once held us, temptation challenges us, and pain may weaken us. 

In writing to the church at Ephesus, Paul admonished, “…do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:26, 27).  In the same chapter he writes about blindness of heart, lewdness, greediness, deceitful lusts, lying, stealing, and the words that come out of our mouths, along with bitterness, anger, clamor, and malice.  These are just a few of the places where we the enemy can stalk us. 

Recently, I heard Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:25, taught with a different perspective than I have heard before.  “Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.”  Our teacher then referenced 1 Peter 5:8 to identify our adversary, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”  Before you dismiss this as crazy talk, let me tell you a bit about my conversations with the person who got a lot of my money, and tried to get more before his true nature came out—I believe he has some demonic connections.   

This person approached me (on Facebook) as someone in the military (I have family in the military so this is something near and dear to me).  He tried to spark romance, a vulnerable place in my heart but I was much more cautious about my heart than my money.  He told me that I had issues with money, which I can readily agree with.  When he started tampering with my heart, I began surrendering my heart and my emotions to Jesus, asking for His redemption.  The Facebook “friend” talked about believing in God.  He seemed to have the right words when it came to the military and deployment; so when he asked for a loan, I sent it.  When he asked for more money, there was an explosion of fireworks and red flags in my heart and I refused to give it.

That’s where things started to go downhill.  I gave him money the first time because of Jesus’ instruction, “Give to everyone who asks of you.  And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back” (Luke 6:30).  He didn’t like my scriptural reasoning based on the book of Proverbs for refusing to send him any more money, though—do not lend more than you are willing to lose, don’t lend expecting to be repaid, and (a personal application) do not lend what I don’t have—as it was, I was in the conundrum between Jesus’ words and the fact that the money I sent conflicted with my determination to not put a loan on my credit card, because there is ample evidence that God does not want us to be in debt to anyone (“Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:8).

But like I said, there has not been clarity in my heart about money and romance—and maybe, just maybe, something inside of me wanted to try to keep up the façade of what seemed to be a friendship.  However, when I told him that the Bible had to be my guide and started to give him biblical reasons for my decision not to send any more money, he became accusatory and told me that the Bible is not for that purpose, to be a guide.  Really? 

He called me selfish.  I ran to Jesus, my Advocate with the Father (1 John 2:1), and asked Him about that—I asked my Redeemer to forgive me and cleanse me if there was any truth in that accusation. 

The man told me that I wasn’t supposed to judge and he referenced Matthew 7:1, “Judge not, that you be not judged.”  The Holy Spirit reminded me, “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit….Therefore by their fruits you will know them” (Matthew 7:18, 20).  Satan also quoted scripture in the Garden of Eden and to Jesus in the wilderness.

The adversary called me a hypocrite and self-righteous.  I told Him that self-righteousness will send a person to hell but I have a righteousness not my own:  “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.  For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:21-26).

I can agree with the adversary about who I was but not who I am—I am justified in Jesus.  Yet I am not perfect—in fact, “if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us”—however, when the enemy makes an accusation, I run to the judge (Jesus, Acts 10:42) to see if it is a lie or if there is truth to the allegation. And should the charge be true, I have God’s word that, “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8, 9).  And the enemy no longer has access to the place in my life that he thought was his, because it is under the blood of Jesus and the Savior’s redeeming, cleansing power!

Sometimes in the broken places of my life, the deep wounds in my soul, I experience an inability to think clearly.  I am so grateful that Jesus came “…to preach good tidings to the poor…to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captive, and to opening of the prison to those who are bound” (Isaiah 61:1)!  I also appreciate the apostle Paul’s perspective about weakness:  “…And He [Jesus] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’  Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake.  For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9, 10).

In those moments when clarity seems to evade us, it is important to recall, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.  For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).  Although some other translations say “take every thought captive to obey Christ”, I like this one (NKJV)—“bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” because this is the obedience of Christ:  “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 6:38).

I think this is the longest post I have written!  I let you inside of my life here, primarily to acknowledge that we have a vicious, cruel enemy who exposed his true nature in his parting words to me.  He was not kind; he was not honorable, though that is who he purported to be—and no wonder because “satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).

I pray for the seamless canopy of God’s grace and Christ’s redeeming blood over my life, the lives of my family members, each one of you, and the body of Christ, His church.  May we always listen to His Spirit and surrender to Him in order to ensure that it remains seamless!

Sue

“Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, ‘Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come,  for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.  Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them!  Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea!  For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time”                         (Revelation 12:10-12).