When Jesus told the crowd that was following Him the Parable of the sower, His disciples were baffled that He had spoken about it to them. The disciples knew that the crowd would find it difficult to understand the Parable.
But:
“He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.”
Matthew 13:11-13 NKJV
The mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven are with the followers of Jesus Christ. The people of the world cannot and will never understand it. It will forever remain mysterious to them.
That’s why no matter how hard the unsaved people of this world will try to explain Christianity, they will continue to find themselves more and more entangled, in an endless and unresolved mystery that they cannot comprehend.
It’s not meant for them to understand, but for those who have been called into God’s Kingdom. Therefore the secrets of the treasures of Heaven and of the darkness of this world are in the hands of the people of God.
Every disciple of Jesus Christ on the earth today has the ability to know, what has not yet been revealed about the Kingdom of Heaven. Whenever the revelation light shines on the truth of the word of God, then faith comes and arises in our hearts into those mysteries.
And the moment that our faith arises is when we have to begin to use it, so as to unravel the depth of those mysteries.
Unfortunately many are getting caught up with the joy of receiving the revelation light which shines through God’s word; but they have forgotten that the revelation light is there for the purpose of doing exploits in the Kingdom.
They therefore have the light, but they are not doing anything with it to shine in the darkness of this world. And as Jesus said in the above scripture texts, what they do have will eventually be taken away from them; and given to those who are getting things done in the Kingdom of God.
The Prophet Job said:
“He (God) reveals the deep things of darkness and brings utter darkness into the light.”
Job 12:22 NIV
In other words God’s light shines through the darkness for us to be able to see the riches of the treasures of the darkness, which our Father had set before us to inherit. The secrets of the dark world are exposed in the light of Christ’s revelation for our benefit.
Jesus had also said to the crowd that was following Him with an evil intent:
“Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.”
Matthew 12:34-35 NKJV
The religious leader were following Him at this time for the purpose of finding fault in Him. Jesus saw through the wickedness of their hearts. He knew that the evil treasure in their hearts was meant for producing evil schemes.
There are people in the world today who are always inclined to scheming for evil things against the people of God. They have given their hearts to being used by the powers of the darkness of this world to their own detriment.
Therefore everything that comes out of them is always evil. The more they are scheming to do evil, the more their evil works keeps getting back to ensnare them.
A righteous man on the other hand has the light that shines through the darkness of the heart of the evil man. He can see the treasure of the abundance of riches in their evil schemes. He is however smart enough to use that light in separating the good, the bad and the ugly from the heart of the evil man.
He takes the good things alone out of the things, that are coming out of the mouth of the evil man. But he rejects and shuns the bad and the ugly.
And as Christians we should understand that whatever we are paying attention to, often affects our decision making process. If you are paying attention to the evil things of this world more than the good, then you will produce negative results with your faith.
That’s why the faith of some Christians cannot produce anything good thing, no matter how devoted they may be to the things of God’s Kingdom. If your association with the evil of this world is keeping your faith from being productive; then the smart thing for you to do is to cut those things off (Matthew 18:8-9).
A disobedient heart to God invites darkness
David wrote about what he saw God doing in the spirit with regards to this type of situation in the heavens:
“He (God) bowed the heavens also, and came down With darkness under His feet. He rode upon a cherub, and flew; And He was seen upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness canopies around Him, Dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.”
II Samuel 22:10-12 NKJV
As we can see from this picturesque description of what David saw in the spirit, God had descended into the darkness, and He had seen through the riches of the dark. And out of all the things which He had seen, He had chosen only the “darkness and thick clouds of the skies” for Himself.
This was what the Spirit of God was doing in Genesis 1:2; as He was hovering over the face of the waters. He had chosen the water from the darkness in order to create thick clouds in the skies. And these thick clouds gives us the rain to water our seeds for the harvest and prosperity of the earth.
One would had thought that everything around the presence of God is light. And it is true that light shines all around the Throne of Heaven. But David had noticed something at the feet of His Throne, which reveals and exposes the schemes of the devil.
If the devil can come into God’s presence with his darkness, he will surely do much more to target the light in the life of any child of God.
Jesus said in the Parable of the unjust steward:
“So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home. He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own”?
Luke 16:8-12 NKJV
Whenever God is opening our spiritual eyes of understanding to see the good, the bad and the ugly in the darkness of this world; He expects us to be embracing the good only, so that we can make profit with it for His Kingdom. Are you making profit?
If God could make profit from the riches of the darkness which covered the earth at the time of creation, He expects us to be making profit also, whenever His Spirit is hovering over our hearts, to see through the riches of the dark age around us.
Now, David was the anointed King of Israel. This means that he had the ability to influence his nation, without being affected by the schemes of the evil forces, that were operating within his nation and among his people. The anointing was upon him for the purpose of making profit.
Just because David was a righteous man doesn’t mean that there were no wicked people following him. In fact his army had a lot of wicked men, who he had tried to get rid of. But he couldn’t do much about eliminating them, because he needed them so as to be making profit with his anointing.
It was because of the influence of these evil men around him, that he was actually disqualified from building the House of God. God had reminded him that there was too much blood on his hands. The wicked men around David had killed so many innocent people. God could not use David anymore with those stains upon his anointing to build the Temple.
Eventually his son (King Solomon) was instructed by him to wipe out these wicked men from around the throne. David wanted his son to be successful as King. He knew what the wickedness of these evil men had done, in staining his anointing before the Lord. So he gave his son a wise advice in eliminating them, if he wanted to be successful as King (1 Kings 2:5-6 and 8-9).
There are a lot of Churches and Ministries today that are struggling to get rid of the wicked from their midst. If the Holy Spirit will be allowed to do the purging for them, there will be great deliverances in their midst.
The problem is that many are not inclining their ears to listen and hear from the Lord. They have gotten themselves so entangled with the jittering of the wicked who are around them, to the extent that they can’t hear the voice of the Lord anymore, showing them what to do in dealing with their different situations.
From the life of King David we can see that, he was yielding and committed to being led by the Spirit of God alone. He was solely sold out to the Lord God; even though he had wicked people around him in the military, who were bent on doing wickedness at all times (1 Samuel 30:22).
On one occasion after the commander of his army (Joab) had murdered (Abner) his military ally from the army of Saul out of jealousy, David said:
“And I am weak today, though anointed king; and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too harsh for me. The Lord shall repay the evildoer according to his wickedness.”
II Samuel 3:39 NKJV
You may be anointed, but weak in doing exploits with your anointing, because of the wickedness of certain people within your Church, Ministry or organization. Their evil works are hindering the flow of your anointing to do great things for God.
David was anointed as the king of Israel; but there were wicked people all around him. He was in the will of God, but wickedness surrounded him during his reign. He however decided to cast the burden about what to do with them on the Lord.
You can be anointed of God and doing great things in God’s Kingdom; yet there may be some people around you in the ministry, who are being influenced by the territorial powers of darkness within your sphere of influence. It’s not really the people; but it’s the influence of the powers of the dark world around you, who are doing this.
You are involved in a spiritual warfare. I love you strongly enough to tell you the truth. You need the Holy Spirit to show you how to deal with the situation. He knows what is going on with you. He alone can help you in dealing with the situation. If you are confronting these forces of evil in your own wisdom and strength, you will fail woefully. You need to be developing a closer relationship with the Holy Spirit, to teach you how to deal with them.
The powers of the darkness of this world and the principalities were there, to hinder the flow of the anointing in the life of King David; thereby preventing him from prospering with the anointing as he ought to be prospering. If this could happen to king David, it can happen to anyone who is anointed of God today also.
King David therefore needed the Holy Spirit at all times in making wise decisions. Otherwise he would had made much more bad decisions than he had made.
In some bad decisions that he had made, many lives were lost. Thousands of people died. But David took responsibility before God for his bad decisions with the anointing over his life. He was forgiven by God, and he ended up doing great things in correcting his bad decisions. God knew that the evil people around his throne were putting pressure on him in making bad decisions; He therefore was merciful to forgive him.
When darkness is close with those with power and authority, it will bring trouble upon the people under them. But those who are established in righteousness will prosper, despite the darkness that may be around them (Proverbs 16:12).
David knew that he had to learn how to depend on God. He therefore prayed to the Lord God:
“Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.”
Psalms 51:11 NKJV
With the anointing over his life King David had to still humbly plead with God, not to take the Holy Spirit away from leading and guiding him. He knew that with the wickedness that surrounded him, he would had failed without the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
The intensity of the evil that surrounded him, as a result of the negative influences of the powers of darkness in the lives of those evil men around his throne, was enough to make him stray away from the Lord God.
David knew what was at stake. He was not prepared to compromise the anointing upon his life, by yielding to those evil pressures. And because he never succumbed to those pressures, his throne was firmly established in righteousness to the end of his life.
However when King Saul rebelled against God, he had opened the door for the forces of darkness to torment him. An evil spirit was permitted by the Lord God to torment him, because of his rebellious act against God’s commandment.
When a child of God who had experienced the power of God to save, to heal and to deliver violates the word of God, by walking and living contrary to what God’s Word says; that child of God opens the door for the evil one to attack him.
There are a lot of God’s people today who are in the same situation that King Saul had found himself. They have violated the law of sin and death. They have decided to compromise God’s word for the standard of this world.
The consequence of their act of disobedience to God has brought them unprecedented problems in life. Some are physically sick, others are mentally sick, while there are those who are finding it difficult to make a headway in life and the ministry with their anointing; because of the rebellion against God.
There are unseen barriers around them from the forces of evil, that are preventing the flow of God’s anointing through their lives.
They’ve prayed about it, but nothing is really changing. Nothing can actually change until there is a real change of heart in them, to repent and start living by the standard of God’s word.
As a result of Saul’s disobedience the Bible says:
“But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him.”
I Samuel 16:14 NKJV
God had allowed the evil forces to torment Saul, even though he was still anointed as the King over His people. His rebellion against God opened the door for him to be tormented by the evil spirit.
The evil spirit thereafter started influencing his actions in the attempt by him to kill David. His act of rebellion against God is just the same as the sin of witchcraft (1 Samuel 15:23).
And there are a lot of Christians today who are involved in one form of witchcraft or another, as a result of their disobedience to obey the teachings of the Bible. Any form of disobedience to the scriptures is witchcraft. And it must be carefully and prayerfully dealt with in the Church, Ministry or in a Christian home.
There are many who are blatantly violating God’s word through divorces these days. In many instances they have opened the door for the evil forces to be attacking them and their children. Divorce is the violation of the Covenant between a man and a woman. Those who are doing this are inviting the forces of darkness upon themselves and their children.
Saul was troubled and found himself in total darkness about his future on the throne of Israel, as a result of his disobedience. If he had repented as David did when he sinned, God could had forgiven him. But Saul never repented. He continued in his wickedness, until the evil spirit led him to his death.
It is an awful thing for those who have been appointed and anointed by God, to inherit His Kingdom on the earth, to find themselves being casted out into total darkness, which has been reserved for the devil and the fallen angels with him.
Jesus said about the judgment that will eventually come upon such believers:
“But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Matthew 8:12 NKJV
When we are walking in the light of God’s word, the powers of darkness can’t come near us. We are however protected by His light, which brightens our pathway into divine prosperity.
Don’t get yourself hedged in
King Saul was in a position where he was really hedged in by God, until the fullness of time came for his sin to be finally judged. God couldn’t do anything to remove him immediately as King, because of the anointing that was over his life. He had to allow the evil spirit to lead him to his demise.
He eventually had to commit suicide. That’s what an evil spirit does in the end to bring judgment on the disobedient.
Whenever a Christian tells you that he or she is having suicidal thoughts, it’s possible that they are involved in one form of disobedience to God’s word or another. Any act of disobedience to God’s word will invite an evil spirit to hedge anyone into the bondage (1 Chronicles 10:1-6).
Job on the other hand never disobeyed God; but the devil had sought God’s permission to tempt him, so that he could disobey God. Job described his trial of faith in this way:
“Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, And whom God has hedged in?”
Job 3:23 NKJV
Light was being equated with life here by Job. He was like a man who had been hedged in by God into the dark. Such a man can’t see light or life, except God gives it to him. His life is dependent on the Creator, who alone has the power to quicken the dead and give light in the darkness.
There is no escape from His hand. This was the situation Job was in. This was the situation with King Saul also. Both the good man and the ugly man found themselves in the same type of situation. One person was walking in disobedience to God, and he was eventually judged for his rebellion.
The other person was walking in obedience to God. And even though he had suffered the fate of the disobedient with his sufferings; but at the end of his life he was much more blessed, than at the beginning of his trial of faith (Job 42:12-17).
Both the righteous and the disobedient can be hedged in by the Lord God; but the end of both of them is always different.
God will allow His anointed ones to be hedged in for the purpose of pruning them, so that they can produce more fruit for His Kingdom.
As we can see in the case of Job, the anointing of God will attract evil forces against those who are carriers of such anointing. The devil will come against any Christian who has been anointed by God. He will use these evil forces in the heavens to tempt them into violating the word of God.
If Jesus was tempted because of the anointing of His Father, that was upon His life on the earth; no one who is anointed can be exempted also from the hands of the devil. The mere fact that the devil is against you, is a sign that you do have an anointing that is dangerous to him and his friends.
This was what happened to David also as the anointed King of Israel. The Bible said:
“Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.”
I Chronicles 21:1 NKJV
Satan stood up against Israel because there was a King in Israel, who was walking in obedience to God’s word, instead of yielding to the influences from the powers of darkness.
Eventually David had to repent; but the damage had already been done by the devil. Thousands of people had died.
It’s a painful thing when those who have been anointed by God into places of authority, are abusing that authority to do evil by sinning against God. It opens the door for the people under them to the attacks of the devil also. There are people in many nations today who are suffering, because of their political leaders’ violation of the power and authority that they do have by doing evil.
That’s why it’s important for Christians to study and know very well, the Christian leaders who are spiritually over their lives, before submitting to their leadership.
There is no one who is perfect apart from God alone. In the Christian walk we will always have to encounter and deal with difficult Christians – both the bad and the ugly. But if you are separating the good things from the bad and the ugly things, you will be able to make profit with the good, while shunning the bad and the ugly character traits in them.
The Body of Christ has the good, the bad and the ugly within her. Judas Iscariot for example was a close disciple of Jesus. He had every information about the finances of His ministry on his finger tips. But he ended up being the one who had to betray him. And just as in the case of King Saul, his refusal to repent of his betrayal brought him suicidal thoughts. He had to hang himself.
The Apostle Paul and John Mark were both anointed into the ministry, but the enemy tried to influence their individual anointing by separating them. There was no Covenant relationship between them in this situation. The only Covenant relationship that they each had was with the Lord God by the blood of Jesus Christ.
The scriptures said as they prepared for the second missionary journey:
“Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark. But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work. Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus; but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God.”
Acts 15:37-40 NKJV
The devil was the one who was behind this sharp contention between Paul and Mark. He however failed to stop them both, because they individually went ahead in fulfilling the call of God over their lives. The gospel went further than they could had been able to do initially.
Also the scriptures mentioned that in the early Church, there was such a strong unity among the leaders in Antioch. It was the first international Church ever recorded in the Bible.
The unity among them was so strong, that the flow of the gifts of the Holy Spirit became so evident among them. The unity in the function of their individual anointing, made it impossible for the forces of darkness to infiltrate their rank. Many of the leaders functioned in the prophetic anointing.
That Church was unstoppable by the forces of darkness in their spiritual warfare. The Bible says:
“Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.”
Acts 13:1-3 NKJV
As they ministered to the Lord in worship and prayer, the gifts of the Holy Ghost flowed among them in separating Paul and Barnabas into the call of God.
The Body of Christ today has the good, the bad and the ugly within her. But when we as Christians are recognizing and acknowledging our individual anointing and calling, it will become impossible for the forces of darkness to penetrate the Body of Christ, by sowing bad and ugly seeds to do havoc; in order to stop us in our spiritual warfare against him.
The only perfect Church will be in Heaven. But while on this earth we must recognize that we all have one common enemy, against whom we are involved in spiritual warfare – the devil.
If we are not allowing the flow of our individual anointing to overcome him, there is no way we can be triumphant against this common enemy.
That’s why we must as Paul advised the Ephesians to:
“Be faithful to guard the sweet harmony of the Holy Spirit among you in the bonds of peace, being one body and one spirit, as you were all called into the same glorious hope of divine destiny. For the Lord God is one, and so are we, for we share in one faith, one baptism, and one Father. And he is the perfect Father who leads us all, works through us all, and lives in us all!”
Ephesians 4:3-6 TPT
Jesus is coming back for His glorious Church. We must make ourselves ready by putting our individual differences aside, to confront this common enemy.
That’s how we can always win every spiritual warfare against the devil:
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
I Corinthians 15:58 NKJV
