Shutting The Door On The Enemy

Author: Unknown

Reprinted from: www.hissheep.org website

Added to ACP: Tuesday, March 17th, 2015

1 John 5:18 “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” Whatever this is saying, it is powerful. It is something we need to know and be able to appropriate. How do we keep the wicked one out of our lives and shut the door on him.

In the Old Testament times, when we talk about the Temple, the Jewish people and the Levites, God was so particular about how they operated. They had to do things like removing the ashes from the altar every day at a specific time so the fire could continue to burn. On the building of the temple, there were gold spikes on top of the holy place so that birds would not land on top of the building, which you can understand why. Only the High Priest could go into the Holy of Holies, one day a year on the Day of Atonement. But before he could enter, he had to go through ceremonial washings and had to offer a sacrifice for himself before he offered a sacrifice for the sins of the people. God was very particular how the temple and priesthood was handled as it related to God, all the different ceremonies and duties within the Holy Place, the offerings of the rams and bulls, or even meal offerings – which had to be perfect and without blemish to be offered upon the brazen alter. God was very specific and particular about everything related to that temple. If God is so particular about an earthly temple that sat in Jerusalem and how the building looked, the priests clothing being perfect, the sacrifices being perfect, the priest spending time alone with God and his preparation and washings, there was a reason. Of course we know that all those things, to the minutest detail was symbolic of and spoke of the things of Christ, the Lamb of God, our redeemer.

This tells us that he is very concerned about that which he spoke of in 1 Corinthians 6:19, about our body being the temple of the Holy Spirit. “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” If our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and knowing that the enemy would try to attack us in body, soul and spirit. Then it is important for us to know how to keep the enemy out. Just like in the Old Testament times in Zechariah, when they were preparing the altar, Satan showed up and stood at the right side of the altar which is not normal, because usually the right side was reserved for God, as seen all though the Bible and according to Jewish traditions.

Zechariah 3:1 “And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.” Here Satan is imposing on God’s presence in a position reserved for God.  In Luke when Zechariah went into the temple to offer up incense on the golden alter, it says that he was fearful when the angel appeared to him on the right side of the altar, which was by tradition reserved for God. Satan will try to infringe upon God’s presence. Just because our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and we are saved and even filled with the Holy Spirit doesn’t mean that the adversary won’t attack us or attempt to attack us in some manner in our body, soul or spirit.

To illustrate this and to show that Satan has no respect for the things of God, notice Jude 9. “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.” Moses wasn’t permitted to cross the Jordan and go into the Promised Land because he had smote the Rock twice. That Rock, according to 1 Corinthians 10:4, out of which the water flowed for the people to drink, represented the Lord Jesus Christ who could and would only be smitten once for our redemption. “And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.”

Numbers 20:11 “And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.” Moses had disobeyed God. But at the death of Moses, Satan attempted to bring an accusation against Moses so he could claim the body of Moses. You might say, “Why would Satan want the body of Moses”. It is very simple. The river Jordan is the dividing line between the country of Jordan and the country of Israel. Moses is buried in the plains on the Jordanian side and just across the river is Jericho. If Satan could have gotten the body of Moses, he would have made sure that the Israelites found it and caused them to build a tomb or monument unto Moses, just like the Egyptians did with their Pharaohs and the people would have stopped and settled on the wrong side of the Jordan River and not gone into their inheritance. You can see that tendency and thinking at the Mount of Transfiguration, in Matthew 17, when Peter suggested that they build 3 tabernacles, one for Jesus, and one for Moses and one for Elijah.

Job 1:6 “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.” Satan comes into the presence of God to attack a man who had a relationship with God. With the temptation of Jesus, Satan took Him to the pinnacle of the temple. The pinnacle of the temple in the time of Christ was where the eastern wall met the southern wall and was 300 feet higher than today. There was a corner wall and lookout. There is where Jesus was told to throw himself down. The temple was the house of God in Jerusalem. When Satan appeared before Zechariah he was on the right side of the altar, resisting the rebuilding of the temple. Satan is our adversary. He is a created being but he and all the other powers of darkness mentioned in Ephesians 6 that are a part of his kingdom of darkness, have no respect for the presence of God or the temple of God. Satan has no qualm about being there at the sacrifice or even inside the temple. He would go to the temple mount which was sacred and holy in that day and cause them trouble and it is no difference today. He went before God to accuse Job. He took Jesus to the House of God, the Temple, where he tempted and tested him. He appears at the right side of the altar where sacrifice was made to the Lord by the prophet Zechariah, commissioned and sent by God, not some backslidden priest. So if Satan could and would do these things, how much more will he come against us who are the Temple of the Holy Spirit? We, like that temple, have an outer and inner and innermost court. Our body corresponding to the outer court of the temple, our soul the inner court and our spirit the Holy of Holies or Most Holy Place. We are the temple of God and His Spirit dwells in our spirit man, which is a picture of the Holy of Holies where the presence and glory of God came in the Old Testament.

Matthew 16:23 “But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” Jesus was directly speaking to Peter, rebuking him, but indirectly speaking to Satan, who had no respect for the things of God and who motivated Peter to speak what he had just spoken to Christ concerning His going to the cross. Satan was working to influence Jesus’ disciples, in His very presence and no man has ever had such an anointing as He, for no one else has been the sinless Son of God. Again, consider Luke 9:54–55. “And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.” It obviously wasn’t the spirit of Christ or the Holy Spirit that was influencing the ‘sons of thunder’ for they didn’t understand Jesus’ mission to save lives and not destroy them. Luke 9:56. “For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”

The most sacred act of communion with God for a believer is the partaking of the communion supper. Jesus is at the last supper table with His disciples and notice what happens. John 13:26-27 “Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly.” The point is that the enemy was right there in the presence of Christ at the Last Supper with His disciples on that holy occasion and moment of their partaking of the elements of communion which were symbolic of the body and blood of the Christ. Many think that if they can just get enough of the presence of Jesus, enough of the anointing of the Holy Spirit in a meeting, that Satan can’t and won’t show up, it will drive him away. Not so! Anywhere God’s spirit is moving, so is Satan. He is there working to hinder people from getting saved and much more. You can’t show a place in scripture where God was working that the enemy wasn’t also on the scene working and causing problems. You might say, what about in 1 Kings 8, when Solomon dedicated the temple and the glory cloud came down and in their presence. It is an awesome site and display of God before His people, but we do not know that the enemy was not around or working in the lives of some of the people. For at no time was the entire nation, as individuals, all right before God and all saved, but a remnant. There are always some whose hearts are not right. All of Abraham’s children aren’t in heaven, nor Isaac’s, nor David’s, nor Adam’s, nor Noah’s or those of many other important men in the Bible. There has never the guarantee that all the children of a man of God would also be men of God or continue in the faith of their father. There is also no Scripture showing that all of Mary and Joseph’s children turned to Christ and believed upon Him as the Messiah.

Anywhere you have people you will always have the potential for problems and there will always be someone the enemy can influence or use for his purposes. That began in the Garden of Eden, before man had sinned, when God came down to the garden and walked and talked with Adam and Adam was clothed with the glory and presence of God and was totally innocent of any knowledge of evil.

It is not beyond professed witches and many Satanists go to regular churches to infiltrate and influence the people and the services. The enemy or some of his people or spirits are always around the church. It is only a rare occasion when there is such a move of God, where Satan isn’t around, if at all.

As one farmer put it, anywhere you have sheep you will have manure. Wherever there is sheep there is the potential for problems. The Lion and the bear came against David’s sheep. As in the natural so it is in the spiritual. There is a spiritual warfare going on for the souls of men and it is going on in every church in the world. There are people with unbelief everywhere, in every group or meeting of God’s people.

The presence of God alone doesn’t mean the enemy is restrained from working in an individual’s life or from showing up. One preacher said he was so anointed the enemy couldn’t touch him. Really. I think any kind of bragging against the enemy is dangerous and presumptuous. That bragging could cause the Lord to give the enemy access to test and prove the bragger and to humble them. I’ve seen it many times and I’ve also experienced it. Proverbs 16:18 is still true, as it always has been, and “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

The anointing and presence of God is no guarantee that the enemy won’t or can’t come against you. Jesus had the anointing of the Holy Spirit without measure and He was led of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of Satan. In 2 Samuel 3:39 David said, “I am this day weak, though anointed king.” Gideon was raised up and anointed by God to fight the Mideanites in Judges 6 and yet it says his army was faint yet still pursuing (Judges 8:15). Then after a great victory, in Judges 8 we see Gideon taking gold from all the Ishmaelites from which he made a golden idol, which they went whoring after, which also became a snare to Gideon and his family.

Luke 22:44 “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” John 14:30 “Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.” Just having the anointing in your life doesn’t exempt you or automatically shut the door on the enemy. Anointed people still get weary. We see that with David but also in Jesus ministry. Anointed people still get tempted, as Jesus, who was tempted for 40 days straight by the enemy and scripture tells us that He was tempted in all points like unto us. Anything the enemy can throw at you, he threw at Jesus. That is why we have a High Priest that is touched with the feelings of our infirmities, because He walked in the flesh and has been there. He knows what we face and are going through and experiencing, except having sinned and suffered the consequences of sin.

So, the anointing doesn’t exempt a person from temptation and the presence of God in a place doesn’t keep Satan from showing up. Although the anointing and presence of God helps us, we see from scripture that the anointing and presence of God alone doesn’t drive out the wicked one and shut the door on him. He could come to Jesus. He came to Peter moments after the great revelation by the Heavenly Father of who Jesus was. He came to Judas in the presence of Jesus. He came before the throne of God in heaven.

Back to 1 John 5:18. “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” Yet it says the wicked one touches him not. Yet we know that the anointing doesn’t exempt us from being attacked or tempted of Satan. The presence of God doesn’t exempt us from an attack of Satan. So what will help us? Does it mean that if I am attacked that I am not born of God? What does it mean? The first part of the verse says, “whosoever is born of God sinneth not.” That doesn’t mean that he never commits a sin, but that he doesn’t habitually practice the same sins as before he got saved. Scripture also tells us in Proverbs 24:16, “a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again.” When he falls, he doesn’t remain down. He gets up and shakes himself from the dust and goes back to the cross for cleansing and returns to the Lord for restoration. There is a big difference between falling into a sin, and entering into sin willingly and voluntarily, with your eyes open, as Adam did. There is a big difference between falling into a sin and getting up and repenting of it and wallowing in the mire of sin and sinning without repentance.

Then it goes on to say, “he that is begotten of God keepeth himself.” Keepeth himself! 2 Corinthians 7:1 “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” ‘Cleanse ourselves.’ There are people waiting for God to show up and do something in their lives and God said, ‘cleanse yourself.’ Hebrews 12:1 says, “let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us.” What happens is that when a person is truly born again of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit changes their desires. A year after being born again and accepting Christ as your savior, you should not be the same, not doing the same things, loving to be around the same people, because your desires will change. The Holy Spirit won’t let you say, watch and do things that you did before coming to Christ. He convicts you, He speaks to you and says no. Isaiah 30:21 “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” It is not a bondage. The Holy Spirit doesn’t put is in bondage. The scripture says the Lord’s yoke is easy and His burden is light. But what he does is start changing your desires. Then it is up to you to lay aside the sins that so easily beset you before. God has a part in our salvation and sanctification, that which He does and then we have a part, which is up to us to do. We are co-laborers with God in the working out of our salvation.

Example. God can renew your mind by the working of His Spirit and through His Word, but then we have a part called discipline. God can deliver you from a spirit of lust. Okay, now you are free. Then you are put into a position where you have the opportunity to sin or lust, but it is up to you. The question is, how will you respond or react to it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” God does His part, but we have to take the way of escape.

Example. When I was a young believer the enemy would come at me to get me attracted to beautiful young ladies because I had enjoyed looking at pictures of ladies before I came to Christ. One day as I was walking down the sidewalk, a beautiful woman with a low cut neckline that was approaching me, suddenly dropped a hanky she had in her hand and bent over to pick it up. She had large breasts and no bra on and when she bent over you know what showed. Now the enemy has provided or come at me with temptation to lust. The question is; when such opportunity is thrown at you, though you had nothing to do with it and didn’t go looking for it, what will you do? What did I do? As soon as I saw it start unfolding, I turned and looked away from her so as not to see her. You have a space of a couple of seconds when something is thrown at you to respond one-way or the other. It is up to you to choose to do right and not give yourself to an opportunity or temptation to sin. God’s spirit can renew your mind, but then you must have discipline and turn your head. You have the choice whether or not to dwell on a thing or turn your attention elsewhere. Sometimes at such times when you know the enemy is trying to get to you and temp you to sin, it helps to quote scripture or start worshipping the Lord in your spirit.

The term for ‘Keeping himself’, means to keep a guard or keep watch for the enemy. No one can and will watch out for you like you can.  Men, if you have a wonderful mate, they can help you keep yourself. Ladies can see and discern if someone is showing interest in their spouse and can help keep you out of trouble. They can pray with you and pray for you and that is powerful. If a man is facing a temptation coming from a lady he is not married to and he is married, he can tell him wife so they can pray together and expose the enemy so he has no place to hide. That’s of course if they are godly and committed to their love for you and the lord. Among fleshly wives, that could just cause jealousy and more trouble. But you have to be on guard. If you can’t do it yourself, then you need someone close to you to help guard you. Scripture tells us to ‘keep yourself from youthful lusts’ (2 Timothy 2:22).

Potifer’s wife did everything she could to get Joseph into bed with her. She went after him and he fled for his life, to keep his purity and not sin against God. What opens the door to Satan is sin, and sin is any disobedience to God. The reason Satan could never get into Jesus life or to him was because he had no sin. John 14:30 “Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.” He is saying Satan had nothing in his life to hold onto. If your not practicing sin, Satan has nothing to hold onto in your life. But you have to will to not sin and keep yourself from sin. If you have the will to, then the HS will help you keep yourself from sin and the enemy won’t have anything in you. That is how you overcome the enemy. If you are tempted and don’t yield to temptation, that gives you strength against the next temptation and you can get stronger and stronger until the enemy can come at you with temptation and it will be like water off a ducks back.

This is a spiritual law. What you feed grows, what you starve dies. You don’t satisfy anything by feeding it; you merely increase its capacity to grow. That is true of sin, lust and temptation. Keep starving it and it will get weaker and weaker and have less power against you. That is the only way to shut the door on the enemy. Also if you give yourself to prayer and praise and the things of God, they will grown and fill up your life and replace the things of your fleshly life before you came to Christ, so that you are growing in grace and knowledge of Him, and the things of your former life become less and less and more distance and as if that old person never existed. You are being renewed and transformed by feeding your spiritual man and starving the fleshly man.

1 John 5:18 “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” How do you keep yourself. You guard yourself. Certain places you don’t go, things you don’t do, and things you don’t listen to or watch. If you know you have a weakness in some area, then stay away and keep yourself from it. If there is something the enemy can bother you with, stay way from it . 1 John 3:10-11 “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” When there is love, it shuts the door to the enemy. Psalm 119:9,11 “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word… Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” 1 John 2:14 “I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.”

You overcome the wicked one by hiding the Word of God in your heart and speaking the work of God in time of temptation. If you keep from sinning, walk in love and abide in the Word of God, you shut the door on the enemy. That is the way to keep him out of your life. It doesn’t mean he won’t be allowed an assignment against you, as with Job. It doesn’t mean that he will never have access to you or be able to tempt you, but it means you will keep yourself and the wicked one will not touch you. He might kill your body but he still can’t touch your spirit, the real you. He put Jesus on the cross, but couldn’t touch him because he had nothing on Jesus for there was no sin in his life. To the degree you cooperate with the Holy Spirit and allow Him to keep you, then you will be free of sin and the door for the enemy to get into your life will be shut.

That could also be termed, walking in covenant with God. As you way in a covenant relationship, as you walk in obedience to what God asks of you, then you can expect God to protect you, deliver you and keep you from the enemy and cause you to walk in the freedom and victory that is in Christ.