Lesson for August 13, 2023
The Doctrine of a Personal Sense of Destiny
Lesson 7
In conclusion, believers who develop a personal sense of destiny, through the study and application of accurate Bible doctrine, must remember that Satan and his world system are going to try to tear you down spiritually.
Upon entering the adult phase of the Christian life, believers will face two temptations designed by Satan to permanently distract them from their spiritual lives. Satan appealed to Eve’s arrogance and emotion, which he used to deceive her in the Garden of Eden. In the same manner, he will try to use these same two methods on us if we give him the opportunity. Eve succumbed to both temptations of Satan (then Adam joined her deliberately). As we read the account of the fall of mankind, you will clearly see the subtlety and genius of Satan, and how he can easily deceive anyone.
Genesis 3:1-6, “Now the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden.’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;but from the fruit of the tree, which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ The serpent said to the woman, ‘You certainly will not die!For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil.’ When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.”
The story of the Garden of Eden is a classic example of believers entering into the arrogance complex (Satan’s first temptation of Eve). As with Eve, the first thing that occurred was trying to justify her actions. It began, as it does for any believer (spiritually mature or not), by deflecting the blame for her disobedience onto someone else. Self-justification is clearly illustrated in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were confronted by Jesus (the LORD God) after they sinned. Let’s read about it in Genesis 3:8-13.
Genesis 3:8-13, “Now they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ He said, ‘I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so, I hid myself.’ And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?’ The man said, ‘The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me some of the fruit of the tree, and I ate.’ Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this that you have done? And the woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’”
Self-justification rejects any personal responsibility for the actions of a person, which is a dangerous form of arrogance. Eve blamed the serpent and Adam blamed God for giving him Eve, which meant he was really blaming God.
The second phase of the arrogance complex is self-deception and is another deadly form of arrogance. Self-deception can also be thinking about yourself in a conceited manner, as with Satan in eternity past and with Eve in the Garden. She should have realized that she could never be like God. Self-deception leads a person right into self-absorption.
Self-absorption is the third phase of the arrogance complex and is total preoccupation with self, as in the case of Eve. She got caught up in the moment and the beauty of the serpent. She began to think of herself and ignored God and the teaching she had been receiving from Jesus as He walked with her and Adam every evening.
The second temptation Satan used in the Garden of Eden was emotion. So, don’t be surprised when he tries it on you. Regardless of the stage of spiritual growth, the genius of Satan can outsmart any believer at any time if they are not vigilant. When believers attempt to please themselves and/or others, instead of pleasing God, they have succumbed to the temptation of emotional control of their soul and fallen into Satan’s trap. We all want to be liked and thought well of by others, but we must always be aware that Satan and his world system can deceive us into putting the feelings toward self or others before obedience to God.
We see this in the Garden of Eden when Eve looked at the beautiful serpent and took her eyes off God. She obviously began to feel empowered by the words of Satan and began to picture herself as something she could never be (like God), instead of being content with who she was already (created in the image of God).
Through emotion (not thinking), Eve failed to recognize the craftiness of Satan and ignored the doctrine in her soul in favor of her emotions. Eve allowed her emotions to control her decision to disobey God. Remember, she had been taught directly by Jesus Christ (the LORD God) and had absolutely no excuse for not recognizing the falsehoods of Satan. Notice, she even added to the prohibition that God had placed on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, by saying that God told them they could not even touch it. God only told them they could not eat from it!
When a believer lives their life with a personal sense of destiny, their awareness of the tricks of Satan will be acute. They will be able to quickly identify false teaching or the subtleties of Satan, when confronted with them. The Bible describes Satan’s modus operandi as a “roaring lion” prowling around trying to find someone to devour. I Peter 5:8, “Be of sober spirit (stability from doctrine), be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
A personal sense of destiny should change the way we think and talk:
- To self – when we know who we are in Christ, we begin to replace negative self-talk with positive spiritual self-esteem talk – thinking and talking about what God has done, is doing, and is going to do for us. Philippians 4:8,“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
- To others – when we get our thinking right, we begin to talk differently to and about others.We think of others the way God thinks and we begin to look for opportunities to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them and to be an encourager. II Corinthians 5:18-20,“Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their wrongdoings against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
- To God – when we have a personal sense of destiny, we stop trying to coerce God into a course of action. We become thankful for what God has given us and we learn how to pray effectively for others and ourselves. This brings the peace of God into our lives. Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
A personal sense of destiny takes you from spiritual babyhood to the beginning stages of spiritual adulthood. You begin to grow up in Christ and realize all the wonderful things that God has done for you, is doing for you, and is going to do for you. This causes you to put aside anything in your life that is a distraction to your spiritual growth and health. And it causes you to keep looking to Jesus as your only real hope for lasting peace and happiness. Finally, a personal sense of destiny will cause you to live your life in light of eternity.
Hebrews 12:1-2, “Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”