Tithing Authorizes God to Confront and Remove Your Enemies

“And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes…” (Malachi 3:11 )

This scripture is often used when one needs to dispose of a “spiritual enemy”.  And spiritual enemies are many times hidden and difficult to expose. However, a tither has been given the promise that God will justly deal with all of his/her enemies. And that would include natural enemies as well. Every person has had an enemy in their lifetime. Even Christ said, “A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.” (Matthew 10:36) Sometimes these enemies could be of the “Household of Faith”. Sometimes they may be outsiders. Are we to love them? Yes, we are. And we can love them once we place them in the hands of God. The following result will always unfold: Christ will reprove, rebuke, and if so, remove them.

Learn early to tithe and bless your enemies – God will in turn confront them accordingly and cause your barns to overflow!

The Superhero Heresy

In the early sixties, this is what a Superhero looked like. I remember coming home from school and watching episodes of Superman religiously. I was about six years old when it finally happened. I thought I could “do it”. I believed for sure I could fly through the living room wall.

I had memorized the Superman script – the Superman intro: “Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound – Look, up in the sky … it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Superman … Yes it’s Superman, strange visitor from another planet who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men … Superman, who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel with his bare hands,  and who disguised as Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter from a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never ending battle for truth, justice and the American way!”

I clothes-pinned a pillow case to the back of my tee-shirt, grabbed the tightest pair of underwear that I could find and jumped up on the living room coffee table. After staring the wall down for several minutes, I made the leap! Thank God that I found out at a very young age that Superheroes didn’t really exist.

Unfortunately today we have a mass group of Superheroes in the Body of Christ. People who think that they can ward off the attacks of Satan without the disciplines of the apostles teachings. Heroes who believe that they are fit enough to stand against the criminals of their modern day Metropolis without adhering to the practices of the first church.

The Superhero mindset says that, “I came from the planet Krypton and nothing I do matters and if I am exposed to Kryptonite, some sudden turn of events will always save me.”

Jesus mentioned something about this delusion in the New Testament:

“But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand.” (Revelation 2:4,5)

The works we did at first … we all had the same first “works” in common.

The childlike faith, the fear of God, the hunger to be around His Word, nearness to His church, His people, His presence, His plan.

After 30 years, I still need all of it and more! Thank God I learned at a young age: “I’m not a Superhero”.

Avoiding Deception

Years ago I heard someone say, “A deceived man doesn’t know that he’s deceived – otherwise he wouldn’t be deceived.” The Apostle Paul makes a profound statement in the Book of Ephesians. He says, “See then that ye walk circumspectly.” (Ephesians 5:15) When Paul says to walk circumspectly, he means to step outside of your body and encircle yourself – the act is really not possible.  The remedy here is to elect others to help you accomplish the same goal.

How easy it is to become self-deceived.

Many years ago a group of men left my ministry because they had problems with the monetary success that I had achieved. They felt that pastors should be prohibited from certain material gains. Then several years later they contacted me. They said that they had come upon a new business venture that could make me wealthy. What a contradiction of terms this was for me. It was only several years ago that they had a problem with my wealth, and now they wanted wealth for me? What could have caused such a change of heart?

The hidden ingredient: it was a Pyramid Scheme. They wanted what I had, “people”.

Insulted by their greed and their assessment of me as a moron. I had to forgive them once again for being greedy, jealous and ignorant. After walking away from the solicitation I realized how desperately we need both godly and wise people in our lives to help us avoid the deep deception of the love of money – which Paul calls “the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10).

All of us need to learn at an early age to surround ourselves with authentic godly people. It really can save one’s integrity and add years to one’s well being as a child of God.

Good Sons – Bad Brothers

Regardless of a child’s behavior, most normal parents would say that their child was a good kid. I believe that God the Father always has this same perspective. As sons, we may misbehave, become uninterested and fall back from time to time. But overall, most of us will acknowledge our shortcoming and return to the Father. If asked, the Father would say, “Taking everything into consideration, he’s a good son”.

But more serious than becoming a poor son, is the tragedy of being a bad brother. From the beginning of creation, it seems like we have had to contend with this dilemma. It began with Cain & Abel. Cain killed Abel and then responded, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen. 4:8,9). Cain certainly should have been. But instead, he betrayed and murdered his brother Abel. Then Esau sold his birthright to Jacob because he was famished (Gen. 25:32). Instead of Jacob being a good brother and correcting Esau’s perspective, Jacob deceived him and stole his birthright. Later Jacob would take advantage of Esau once again and steal his blessing (Gen. 27:28). In the latter chapters of Genesis we find Joseph being so loved by his father yet hated by his brothers (Gen. 37:3,5). And finally in Luke’s Gospel we are told of the story of the Prodigal Son and how his older brother despised his return and the celebration that went along with his coming back to his senses (Luke 15:28).

This is a problematic illness in the Body of Christ. Generally we are good sons, but terrible brothers. The study of biblical brotherhood is both compelling and convicting.

A special thanks to all of the Men who came out this weekend to hear this Series – bless all of you as you take a step up and into becoming a better brother to one another!

Inside the Lion

The Bible says that, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8-9)”.

Don’t allow the roar of the lion to scare you away from the road God has placed you on.

Samson, a man of courage, faced a deadly encounter with a wild lion and there found refreshment. (Judges 14:5-9) As the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, he ripped the lion in half with his bare hands. Inside its carcass was honey. Wrapped up and contained within the very thing that was designed to destroy him, Samson found the sustenance he needed to go on.

Wrapped up inside the very thing that has been designed to destroy us lies a food that will cause us to make the greatest gains in our spiritual lives.  You have what it takes, tear your lion apart and discover the food that is hidden inside.

The Power of Unity

The establishment of unity is so powerful, that at one time, God Himself saw it as a threat to His overall management for the human race.

Years after the great flood of the earth, the new world of people began to build a high tower towards the heavens. Their motive was two-fold. First, they desired to make a great name for themselves. And second, they wanted to secure the human race in the event that God ever pulled the stunt of flooding the earth again.

The Bible says that God looked down from the heavens and said,
“If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other. So the LORD scattered them from there, over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.” (Genesis 11:6-8)

Without this interruption to their language and agreement, mankind’s dealings would be counterproductive to God’s overall blueprint for the world. He simply got in between mankind and they scattered. He knew that if they continued to speak the same language, nothing would be impossible for them.

Agreement is an amazing law. This is why Jesus said, “Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 18:19)

The incident at the Tower of Babel proves to us that, the unity and agreement of any group of people is nearly divine. It resembles heaven’s order. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The angelic host which lines up with the orders that proceed from the Godhead. This covenant model of agreement was designed for the church to duplicate and follow.

The Losses and Rewards of Betrayal

For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born! (Matt 26:24)

Betrayal is a horrible act.  It affects its victim terribly, but beyond that, as Christ saw it, the betrayer’s sentence is far worse.  In Judas’s case, he eventually hung himself (Acts 1:18).

The wounds of betrayal can also multiply and defile others.  Initially, the wounds are delivered to one individual, in time they do their subtle work and seek to destroy many.

There are times when betrayal can create so deep a wound that you begin to believe the bleeding will never end, the cut will never close, and the pain will never cease.  But more excruciating than that, is when those among you become nearsighted to the damage being done and soon become victims to the hellish crime of betrayal.

In King David’s day, Absolom strategically betrayed his father and many others (victims) were persuaded, deceived, and lost to the demise. The scripture says, “Soon many others also joined Absalom, and the conspiracy was strong and gained momentum” (2 Sam 15:12).

How could David have ever forgiven Absolom of his dual act against the kingdom?  Initially, David would have to find a place within his heart to forgive Absolom of the personal pain that was inflicted.  But beyond that, David would have to further deal with the multiplied anguish of losing other key people to the treachery of the betrayal as well.  How would David accomplish this?  And if he could, why would he take on such a large challenge in the first place?

It has been said that, “The pen is mightier than the sword”. Often times, we get to experience the positive side of that.  Occasionally God will rise up an author that speaks so sharply into your life that heaven’s voice seems to flutter off the pages as you turn them.

R.T. Kendell is that type of writer.  He was the pastor of the famous Westminster Chapel in London England for twenty five years.  Nearly seventy five year’s old, he has written over 30 books to date.  One of his most recent works, Total Forgiveness has become a bestseller.

In the chapter, How to Forgive Totally, R.T. Kendell defines what a true enemy is.  Of course, many believers might doubt the authenticity of real enemies in the life of a Christian. But R.T. Kendell’s experience and calling allows him to trump that kind of fairytale non-sense and clearly expose the real truth concerning the subject.

First he cites one of the beatitudes,
“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12).

He then states,
“If you have a real, relentless, genuine enemy – someone who is not a figment of your anxiety or imagination – you should see yourself as sitting on a mine of twenty-four karat gold.  Not everyone is that blessed.  But if you have been blessed in that way, take it with both hands.  You should take this person’s picture, enlarge it, frame it and thank God every time you look at it”.

He then defines what a true enemy is.
“It is a person who either wants to harm you or would say something about you so as to call your credibility or integrity into question.  They would rejoice at your downfall or lack of success.  They would not pray that God would bless and prosper you, but instead would sincerely hope that God would bring you down … an enemy is also a person who will take unfair advantage of you; they will ‘despitefully use you’ (Matthew 5:44).  If they know you place vengeance in God’s hands rather than your own, instead of respecting this they will exploit it all the more – knowing you will not retaliate … they may say libelous things in print because they know you will not sue.  The Greek word ‘persecute’ simply means to follow or to pursue.  Enemies will pursue you because they are obsessed with you.  King Saul became jealous of David … what is more, if they are Christians they may deceive themselves into thinking they are doing it for God and for His glory!  When you have totally forgiven this type of enemy, you have crossed over into the supernatural realm … you have made it into the Big Leagues”.

What a great confirmation this is for anyone who has had to face the wicked tongue of a heartless enemy.  The promise that R.T. gives us is unsurpassed – forgive this type of enemy and the anointing, as he says, is among the “highest level of spirituality that exists”.

This was the motive that was alive inside of King David … this was the incentive he had to forgive his “Judas Iscariot”.  When he did forgive, David’s anointing increased and the kingdom prevailed with greater measure over the darkness that existed once before.