Our devil is way too big and our God is entirely too small. We don’t like to think that….don’t really believe we do. Oh, we recognize it in people who are extremely fearful…we may acknowledge they believe satan is big and God is small. But, we don’t readily see that belief in ourselves when it is disguised. We would never say it with words….but we betray it with our fears and concerns.
When we hesitate to believe God speaks to us, yet have no difficulty believing that satan does, our devil is too big and our God is too small. John 10 tells us that His sheep recognize the voice of their Shepherd, but not that of a stranger. We easily recognize the enemy’s voice when he is asking us to do something, aka, temptation. Yet we fail to recognize our Father’s voice when He is asking us to do something. We tend to believe we will naturally follow the voice of the stranger….fall to temptation…and have not the discernment to recognize the voice of the Shepherd. I’m not suggesting we aren’t sheep, but rather, that we have tuned our ears to the wrong voice. We simply need to tune our ears to His voice, being willing to obey it no matter what. The more we do that, the more we hear His voice.
When we readily admit-even fear-the possibility of demonic encounters, but scoff when someone claims an angelic encounter, our devil is too big and our God is too small. The Bible lists nearly 300 references to angels, with about 165 of those in the New Testament. Hebrews 1:14 refers to angels as ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who inherit salvations…believers! Matthew and Luke both record angels coming to minister to Jesus, strengthening Him after a trying time. If the Son of God needed angels to minister to Him, how much more do we? And, if we do, why could we not see them? Why are we willing to say angels exist and are all around us, yet hesitant to believe we could ever see, hear, feel, or sense them?
When we shy away from the spiritual realm because we have witnessed or fear the demonic, or we don’t believe we will discern correctly(but that goes back to John 10…the sheep recognize their Shepherd), our devil has become so big that he dwarfs our God who is a Spirit(Jn. 4:24) The spiritual realm is far more real than the physical realm, whether we shy away from it or seek it. The reality of it dominates our natural world negatively as well as positively. When we are hesitant to understand or engage the spiritual world, God will honor that…but the enemy will not. He will take full advantage of our preference for ignorance…our desire to disengage from the spiritual realm. Yes, demons are spirits and they operate in the spiritual realm. But, angels are too! God also operates in the spiritual realm. If we seek to only understand and engage Him through our physical senses, filtered through our human reasoning, we are severely limiting how He manifests Himself to us(not because we have the power or authority to limit Him, but because He will often limit Himself to our choices). Our fear of encountering satan may keep us from encountering God!
When we trust our limited understanding of God, how He acts and responds, and attribute anything outside our understanding to the devil, our God is so small as to fit in a box and the devil so large as to be everything outside that box. For one thing, God is God. He does whatever He pleases(Ps. 115:3) He will not violate His character or His Word, but He may violate our understanding of His character or His Word(though in Acts, He commanded Peter to do something that violated the very law He declared). God is greater than our comprehension. He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think!(Eph 3:20) Ok….grammar lesson here. For one thing, there is no comma between exceedingly and abundantly so that means they are not separate adverbs modifying the adverb above. But, exceedingly is modifying abundantly which is modifying above. So, it wasn’t enough to say above what we ask or think….or above ALL that we ask or think….or ABUNDANTLY above all that we ask or think. What God can do exceeds abundantly anything we could ever ask or think. Those 4 words, their extreme modification that is compounded with each adverb, should wipe away any thought in our minds that we could ever-without any doubt-comprehend, understand or define what God would do.
Also, we have this idea that satan can think up something and we need to beware of it. But, God is the only creative Being in this world. Satan cannot come up with anything new. He can only imitate or pervert something that is from God. He can never start a completely new move. He can only counterfeit real moves of God. Afraid that something appears New Age? The New Age movement is one that counterfeits a very real aspect of God’s heart. The tenets of New Age sound very similar to those of New Age, but are distorted. When we avoid something that appears New Age(or anything demonic or of the enemy), we often end up throwing the baby out with the bath water. Unfortunately, with this mindset or fear, we end up avoiding the real for fear of the counterfeit.
When we spend more time and effort keeping the world out than we spend going into the world, our devil is too big and our God is too small. When we fear going into the enemy’s territory, believing we will fall or be tainted, our God is too small to protect us from our enemy when we go into battle. We are called to be in the world…to go into all the world…to be salt and light to the world. We can’t do that through occasional, chance encounters that we may have. We need be intentional about invading the world for Jesus! The world is not coming to church! The church must go to the world!! It’s time we let go of our fear of being tempted away from God, take hold of the promise that HE is the One who keeps us from falling….and go any place the enemy has control or heavy influence, from public schools to strip clubs, bars, casinos, and more….taking Jesus with us…being Jesus with skin on….giving people a taste of Him…a God encounter. Heaven invades earth every time a believer steps into enemy territory because we are seated in heavenly places so wherever we go….heaven goes. Whatever place we enter….God enters. We have the power to change the atmosphere everywhere we go!
BIG GOD! little devil. We need to get this straightened out in our hearts and minds. The enemy has already lost!! He is defeated! Jesus made a spectacle of him. The only power he has is what we grant him, not only by our actions, but also by agreeing with fears.
BIG GOD! little devil.
He is speaking to us more loudly than satan is…..we must tune our ears to His voice
He sends His angels to minister to us….we must open our spiritual eyes and activate our spiritual senses.
He is a Spirit in a spiritual realm….we must enter it to know Him more fully.
He cannot fit in a box….we need to expand our understanding of Him.
He is the One who keeps us from falling, empowering us to invade enemy territory….we need to get outside our walls and into the world!
BIG GOD! little devil. Any paradigm, worldview, attitude or heart posture different that that is a lie. Renounce it and receive truth.
BIG GOD! little devil. THAT is truth! Believe it! Trust it! Live from it!
BIG GOD!!little devil. Got it?