The Archenemy of our Success

Messages for March 2017: Our Month of Felicitations

Message for Sunday the 26^th and Wed.29^th of March 2017

Theme Understanding God’s Principles of Success

Topic: The Archenemy of our Success

Introduction: Last week, we saw what to do to succeed God’s way. Please understand that there are good and bad successes. When success is of God, it is good because God saw that everything He created was very good [Gen.1:31 and Jos.1:8]. It is really good success that the enemy attacks. He has no business with the bad one because those ones are already doomed to his domain. This explains why we want to unmask the archenemy of our success today so that we can recognize them, understand their devices and know how to subdue and defeat them.

The archenemy of our success therefore is the devil especially when he operates as the accuser of the brethren. As accuser of the brethren, he operates by means of the triplet of slander, gossip and offense. However, he cannot do this without the cooperation of people in the Church. He releases his agents into the Church and uses them to further his cause. We shall therefore be looking today at how he does this and why he has been so good at it and what God has done to checkmate him and how we can choose to cooperate with God to overcome him all the time.

The accuser of the Brethren: This is another description of Satan our archenemy from the beginning. The word translated Satan is Shatan which means adversary or one who breaks faith. This is the reason why in these last days, you have so many trucebreakers as shown in 1Tim.3:3. In Rev.12:9-10 we read:

“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil, and Satan which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him.

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”   

This scripture leaves us in no doubt that the accuser is the devil. Let us understand that our wrestle is not against flesh and blood so that we do not misfire at the wrong target. See Eph.6:10-18 and 1Pet.5:8-10.

Now that we understand who our real enemy is, let us see how he works. When Satan wants to operate as the accuser of the brethren, he uses this triplet instrument of slander, gossip and offence.

Slander: This is the first transgression recorded in Genesis 3 at the fall of the first man. Slander is a damaging statement about someone’s character or reputation. It is casting aspersion on another. The result is that the individual being slandered is seen differently by the person to whom they are slandered. In this account, Satan rode on the serpent to slander God. When he told Eve that she would not surely die if she disobeyed God and ate of the forbidden fruit, he deceived her into breaking faith with God because Eve did not really understand the instruction as much as Adam so she was easily deceived. Adam on the other hand knew what the instruction was and had a right of choice to stop the conversation and order the serpent out of the garden but chose to remain and therefore got spell bound by the devil enough to rebel against God. See 1Tim.2:13-15.

When slander is operating, faith and trust in the character of the person slandered is broken. So we no longer see them the same way again. This is what happened to Eve in the garden.

Slander is actually a form of witchcraft. Witchcraft has its root in the Greek word Pharmacia which is where we get the word pharmacy from. It means illicit drugs that put people in an altered state of consciousness. Drugs that manipulate and control; thus when Eve was listening to the Serpent, she was being spell bound.

Serpent on the other hand means divination. Every time you listen to the accuser, you are being brought under a spell. The intention of the devil is to make you eventually disobey the truth. This explains why people hear the truth and not do it. See Gal.3:1-5. The antidote to this evil is shown us by James 1:21; Php.4:8-9 and Eph.4:27.

Please understand that the accuser never comes directly to you as the devil except you are consciously his agent. He works through people especially those who know or claim to know you. How he does it brings us to the second of the evil triplet of Satan.

Gossip: Gossip is a casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people typically involving details which are not confirmed as true. Also a gossip is a person who likes talking about other people’s private lives. Every time a person engages in gossip, that person is being a pharmacist releasing spells that would bewitch the listener until the listener enters into an altered state of consciousness and begins to do things irrationally. Note here that the slander originates from the devil and the means by which he spreads it are people. Sadly most of the devil’s slander against the Church is spread by some in the Church who are born again and Spirit filled.

The results of slander:

1.     People are bewitched. Gal.3:1-5 and Acts 19:24-29. Note here that God just cleansed people from witchcraft in the city. This was the reaction of the kingdom of darkness. They used Demetrius to perpetrate the slander that bewitched the people and they began to behave irrationally. See Acts 19:19-20.

2.     They no longer obey the truth – Gal.3:1 and Jas.1:21-25.

3.     They lose confidence in God’s agents to them. See Gal.4:13-26.

4.     They can no longer walk in love – 1Jn.2:4-6;

5.     They are blinded by hate because they now hate who they once loved. See Jn.5:24; 1Jn.2:9-11 and 1Jn.3:14.

6.     Slander, gossip and offence are substances from the under world that can stagnate people and keep them from fulfilling their destinies. It can keep people from realizing God’s purpose for their lives and abort their destinies. This is what happened to Eve.

Thirdly, the result of slander and gossip is offence. If the devil cannot get you to do either of the two for him, he uses his agents to provoke you and you could become the victim of his slander. If you are innocent before God, he would fight for you and protect you provided you repent of extreme cases of offence that has caused you to sin in any way and sincerely from your heart forgive.

Offence is therefore a thing that constitutes a violation of what is judged to be right. It can also be defined as a lack of politeness or failure to show regards for others; wounding the feelings of others.

Offence could also be described as the feeling of anger caused by being offended.

Aspersion which is a manifestation of slander and gossip is to speak in such a way as to discredit a person or an institution. This could become offensive to the person or institution. At the end of the day, if the person offended is not large hearted enough to forgive; they also become tools in the hands of the devil when they try to fight back on the devil’s terms. This is how Satan tries to tear down ministries. When you are offended and refuse to forgive, you hold the person in prison and you become the prison warder and have to remain in the prison with the person. This way, you do not get to fulfill your destiny just like the other person. But if you choose to forgive, you come out of the prison and come in a position to be able to help the person out of their prison through the love of God.

Overcoming the Accuser: To overcome the accuser, first recognize that the accuser is not the person who slandered you or gossiped of you or even offended you. These people are mere agents through which the devil worked. Note Ephesians 6:10-12

Then take the following steps:

1.     Remember that you have also been guilty of sinning for which God has forgiven you so many times. A good example is the story of the unforgiving servant in Mt.18 and the challenge of Jesus to the accusers of the woman in Jn.8:10.

2.     Forgive: whether the person asks your forgiveness or not. Forgiveness is for you and not the person. We are told in the word of God that if we refuse to forgive, our prayers would not be answered, God also would not forgive us. See Mt.6:15-16; Mk.11:24-25KJV. Note that forgiveness gives you the freedom to move on with your life.

3.     Understand that only the devil gains from this: His target is to try to get us to lose our place like he did to Adam and Eve before. Please refuse to allow him and do not reduce your status as a king and priest to that of a slave to sin. See Rev.1:5-6; 1Pet.2:9; Gal.4:1; 1Cor.3:1-3 and Rm.6:1-6

4.     Refuse: to lend your tongue to accusations that are unfounded and should you ever get involved, it should be with the intention of helping and not aggravating the slander. Acts 23:20, 35. Always seek to hear both sides before reaching a conclusion. Acts 25:16-18 and 2Cor.13:1.

5.     Understand that when you are a false accuser, you are under the spell of the accuser of the brethren and therefore fulfilling negative prophecy of the spirit of the last days. See 2Tim.3:3 and Titus 2:3. Understand that until we get rid of the accuser, salvation will be with held from many. Rev.12:10

6.     Take a stand against tale bearers: Turn away from such people and refuse to keep company with them or else Ps.1:1-3 would be adversely fulfilled for you. See 2Tim.3:1-5; Pr.20:19 and 26:20, 22.

7.     Walk in love towards all men: This is the only commandment we are enjoined to keep. Obedience to the word of God enables us to always experience victory. Besides all these, love never fails. See Jn.13:34-35; 1Jn.2:10; Mt.5:43-46; Jn.14:21-23 and 1Cor.13:8.

I believe God that as we put this to work in our lives, we would see the glory of God. Please understand that this message is meant for the Church. The accuser of the brethren has nothing to gain from hurting his own. If you therefore are not yet born again, you can make a change today and enter into a covenant with God that can exclude you from being an instrument in the hands of the devil as you cooperate with God.

Should you desire to make this necessary change, please say the following prayer out loud in faith and you will be born again:  

Heavenly Father,

Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name! Amen.

Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email:  jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.    

Please note that the bulk of my resources for this message were drawn from the book Unmasking the Accuser by Kynan Bridges. you can google him on you tube to learn more. Thank you.