Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
“So then, my dearly loved brothers, be steadfast, unmoveable, abounding in the work of the Lord always.”
1Corinthians 15:58
Thoughts inspired by chapter 7 of the book, God Had a Son Before Mary Did.
In order for Satan to be able to move someone, to influence a person’s choices, that person must hold in his heart a wrong idea about God. Satan cannot deceive, intimidate, or influence anyone who possesses the true knowledge of God. When Paul prayed that the saints would be “unmoveable” and “rooted and grounded” (Eph. 3:17), what he was praying for is simply that they would attain to the knowledge of their heavenly Father. When Jesus said that the truth would make us free (Jn. 8:31–32), he meant that the knowledge of God would make us free from the power of darkness to influence our feelings, our thoughts, and our choices.
The Lord showed me in August, 1981, that the biggest enemy of His people is not the Devil; rather, our biggest enemy is what we still don’t know about God. He said through Hosea, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Satan knows how to use our ignorance against us. He works in places we don’t yet understand. He maneuvers in those spiritual areas where we are ignorant. He cannot work in the light, for in the light, he is exposed for what he really is. Jesus promised that all who trust in him will have the “light of life” (Jn. 8:12), which means that if we trust Jesus, he will lead us to a spiritual place where Satan has no more influence on our spirits because we provide him no place to hide.
The way to eternal life is simple. All we have to do is walk in the light of the Spirit that God has given us, and the light of the Spirit is the knowledge of God. That is why Jesus once defined eternal life as simply knowing the Father and the Son (Jn. 17:3). If we possess that life, that true knowledge of God that comes through the Spirit, we will be unmoveable, free from the influences of every ungodly spirit, whether human or otherwise.