When You Give the Enemy an Inch, He WILL Take the WHOLE Mile.

When I go back home for winter break, I always notice how rough it is to stick to my routine of waking up early to pray and accomplish my reading goals. There is always so much going on each day that I get into the habit of not having a specific time to spend with God.  

And upon talking to my other Sistees, they shared they go through the same thing! They also have a rough time with their prayer time and continuing the zeal we have for our Father’s work. Little did I realize, this was a tactic of the enemy in which he used his way in.

Let’s look at another one of his tactics that us as believers have to be attentive to.

Nehemiah 5:1-11 reads, 

1 About this time some of the men and their wives raised a cry of protest against their fellow Jews. 2 They were saying, “We have such large families. We need more food to survive.” 3 Others said, “We have mortgaged our fields, vineyards, and homes to get food during the famine.” 4 And others said, “We have had to borrow money on our fields and vineyards to pay our taxes. 5 We belong to the same family as those who are wealthy, and our children are just like theirs. Yet we must sell our children into slavery just to get enough money to live. We have already sold some of our daughters, and we are helpless to do anything about it, for our fields and vineyards are already mortgaged to others.” 6 When I heard their complaints, I was very angry. 7 After thinking it over, I spoke out against these nobles and officials. I told them, “You are hurting your own relatives by charging interest when they borrow money!” Then I called a public meeting to deal with the problem. 8 At the meeting I said to them, “We are doing all we can to redeem our Jewish relatives who have had to sell themselves to pagan foreigners, but you are selling them back into slavery again. How often must we redeem them?” And they had nothing to say in their defense. 9 Then I pressed further, “What you are doing is not right! Should you not walk in the fear of our God in order to avoid being mocked by enemy nations? 10 I myself, as well as my brothers and my workers, have been lending the people money and grain, but now let us stop this business of charging interest. 11 You must restore their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and homes to them this very day. And repay the interest you charged when you lent them money, grain, new wine, and olive oil.”

Now let's break down this story. So here we have a testament from Nehemiah where he was witnessing his fellow Jewish people oppressing each other. Many of the Jews had to sell their land to pay for food, they even had to sell their sons and daughters into slavery to pay their own people. Nehemiah was furious because the nobles, rulers, and even himself, were loaning out money to their fellow brethren at high interest rates. And the irony of it all, was that before this, the Jews were experiencing the same oppression from the Babylonians. Nehemiah’s mission was to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem and to bring hope and comfort to the Jews. If their own people were treating them the same way as their oppressors in Babylon, then his mission would be in jeoprady.

So Nehemiah decided that they had to nip this in a bud, not now, but RIGHT NOW. His urgency to right their wrong immediately was because HE KNEW. He knew that if they didn’t fix the problem, then their opposition would be able to come in and destroy everything they were trying to rebuild. He knew that the enemy would have a way in. 

See our God is a God of justice (Isaiah 30:18). He is not pleased with His people struggling or being taken advantage of. Remember the story of the 10 plagues told in the book of Exodus. Pharaoh had a hardened heart and would NOT let the Israelites go. And Pharaoh's stubbornness (his sin) led to the 10 plagues and him ultimatley losing his son. See once we allow sin in our lives, we allow havoc to enter in right behind it (Psalm 5:4). In the book, Don’t Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table, the author speaks about how our adversary pries and waits patiently for any “in” (sin) in our lives to do what he came to do; steal, kill, and take your soul right to Hell where he is (John 10:10).  A quote that I like to remember is that “He (the devil)  has a whole lot of time, but NO MERCY ''. Meaning that any sin that is unforgiven, underlying, or even the ones you try to hide is all the opening the devil needs. He will kick the door wide open even if it’s just a little crack. That's why the Lord tells us to stay sober and vigilant (1 Peter 5:8).

The second thing I want to point out is the wisdom that Nehemiah had that transcended his time. He knew that the oppression taking place within the Jews were starting to separate the Jews. Look at what Jesus told the Pharisees in Matthew 12:25-26.

25 But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 

So for some context, the Pharisees were a religious group of Jews who just could not get behind the fact that our Father put Himself in flesh and came to Earth to dwell among His people, so everything Jesus did, they questioned ir. So this specific time, Jesus healed a man who was mute (couldn’t speak) and the Pharisees went so low as to say that Jesus was casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub (Satan). So Jesus, being the compassionate Savior that He is, broke it down like look, you think that Satan would cast his own self out? That is literally the opposite of what Satan does (remember John 10:10). 

So He sums it up saying a house divided can not stand. Division amongst any group would make them weaker and not strong enough to endure any obstacles that would come their way. That's why the Lord tells us if we have anything against our brethren we should fix it before coming to Him (Matthew 5:23-24). And why does He do that?  Because the Lord appreciates unity, he appreciates BEING ON ONE ACCORD (Matthew 18:19-20). Not being united can cause unnecessary strife, discord, and confusion; works of the enemy (Proverbs 6:16-19,1 Corinthians 14:33)! 

So I urge you all to please, be like Nehemiah. We were never called to be perfect, and we were never made to be without sin, but I urge you to understand the enemies tactics and shut them down as quickly as possible, because if you don't, the enemy WILL come in. Get connected to the Lord by establishing a relationship with Him by reading and DOING His word so that you are saved by His Love, Grace, and Mercy. As a Saint we should take on the armor of the LORD every day because we don’t wrestle with flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:10-13) and to resist the Devil and our flesh daily (James 4:7, Matthew 16:24-28).

If you would like to close any doors and stop the enemy right in his tracks, say the following prayer with me.

Lord, I thank you for all that you do for me. I thank you, God, for sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins so that we will not perish but have everlasting life. I ask humbly for your forgiveness for any sin that I have not yet repented for. I ask forgiveness for any sins I committed knowingly and unknowingly and ask you to cleanse me with the Blood of Jesus. I come against the work of the enemy in every area in my life in the name of Jesus, and ask that you enter my heart so that I walk on the long and narrow path to righteousness. I pray God for your armor and strength to resist the devil and temptation so they may flee. I love you God and I thank you for a second chance!

In Jesus name,

Amen

Also please get a copy of Prayers that Rout Demons by John Eckhart to accompany you on your warfare journey!

Go in peace!!!!