Monday, February 10, 2014

Beware Of The Whisperer

Beware of the whisperers in your life. They are like the snake in the garden, coming alongside to whisper doubt into your life. They can take a human form, a book, a movie, anything at all. The whisperers can come through parents, teachers, best friends. It is anything that says, "Did God really say ..." twisting the Scriptures and the clear doctrine that forms the foundation of your life.

It may be somebody who plays a minor part in the story of your life; only present for a very brief period and then gone again. This is what happened in king David's family. An insidious person named Jonadab was a friend of the king's son, Amnon. Now Amnon had some unwholesome desires for his half-sister but he had not brought it to life; it was just something that was there. But the whisperer came alongside and encouraged Amnon to act on these feelings:

So Jonadab said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill. And when your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me food, and prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat it from her hand.’” (2 Samuel 13:5)

Notice Jonadab did not tell him what to do after that but it was enough to nudge Amnon into a course of action that would bring terrible grief on the entire nation. The enemy did not care about Jonadab, Amnon or Tamar; his sights were set on the throne and causing as much pain as possible. Amnon violated his sister which led to the bitterness of her brother Absalom. In the end it left Tamar in disgrace the rest of her life, Amnon dead, a kingdom divided, hundreds of innocent people dead along with Absalom and caused untold grief to David. All from a simple whisper.

In our age the whisperers are increasing to the point of being shouts. There are a lot of sources that are trying to plant doubt into the hearts of Yahweh's children, causing them to question the King, making them turn aside in rebellion. Open your eyes and take a look. We have preachers teaching there is no hell. We have whole churches accepting and defending immorality (sin) in their church. We have atheists mocking the Bride of Christ and setting up mankind as an idol. We have legitimate followers of Jesus being seduced by the culture of our day. We have immorality splashed across our television and computers screens, contained in every cell phone, in novels and magazines. There is a huge wave of rebellion sweeping across our nations and the whisperers say to the faithful "it's normal, join in".

Beware of the whispers in your life because they are out to destroy you. Their source is the enemy of our soul and he has been working his great deception for thousands of years. I have no new words to encourage you with but I can encourage you with the only Word that matters:

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (Ephesians 6:10-13)

It is not a new war. In fact, it is a very ancient war and our part is to stand against it, not in our own strength but with that which our LORD has equipped us. Take a good look around, it is only going to get worse. But take heart and be encouraged in the LORD because we are on the winning side. Do not allow yourself to fall victim to the whisperer and do not make alliances with anything of this world. The world has nothing to offer us because Jesus has already given us everything. Shout his praises from the roof top in the face of the whisperer and stand your ground.






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