February 24, 2003  

"Temptation is the Doorway into Sin"

When we look at the enemy in the book of Revelation, particularly under the title of dragon, he is described as having seven heads.  We believe those seven heads are very important.  We believe that they equate with the seven capital sins because he is the father of lies.  We might say that he is the father of sin.  The first sin ever committed was committed by the angels, not Adam and Eve.

Matthew tells us very clearly, "Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation" (see Mt 26:41; Mk 14:38).  I think that's extremely important for prayer warriors to know - watch and pray that we enter not into temptation.  This actually becomes another weapon for us because temptation is the door into sin.  We've begun to see that we don't usually step directly into sin.  We step first into the doorway, temptation, and that's where the struggle takes place.  That's where a choice is made.  If we make the wrong choice, then we pass through that doorway of temptation into sin itself.

When we give into temptation and are led into sin, it really weakens our posture.  It really weakens our ability to stand firm.  It weakens our ability to hold fast and to hold our ground because we are on shaky territory then, and we can easily fall and move into sin.  So one of Satan's main strategies is that he lies and distorts God's word.  He distorts God's truth.  He is the father of lies.  

Sin will always be an infraction of God's love in some way, and it will always bear the fruit of coming against God's love.  It will make us love God less, love ourselves less, and love others less.  It will always strike against love.  One of the weapons that it will always use is fear.  We didn't realize this until our community went through the entire seven capital sins.  We called it "Sin Formation" but then people looked so shocked, we thought we'd better find another name!  But I think God really wants us to know our enemy in all the areas in which he lurks and hides.  The enemy loves concealment.  Satan really doesn't want to be evicted.   The spirits like to live within us and within animals.  They don't like to live outside of us.  It must be because this is the greatest way they can strike at Jesus and strike back at the Father's plan.   And so they choose to dwell within  us (as God does) if we allow it.  When we were going through the formation about the seven capital sins, the Lord indicated to us, "I want sin rooted out now.  I don't want any more band-aids.  I want it rooted out so you can be totally free from Satan's camp, free to live and move and have your whole being in Me."

We found that there were secondary roots, but the deepest root of all was fear.  That's when I began to realize, "No wonder Jesus talked so much in the Gospels about fear.  ‘Fear not.  Fear not, little flock.  Do not fear.  Fear is useless.' "  Jesus knew He was giving us the weapon of God's love to come against fear.  "Perfect love casts out fear" (1Jn 4:18).  Of course, only God's love is perfect love.  So God is a Deliverer and with His love, He will uproot the fear.  We will begin to discover that the fear is based upon lies, whereas God's love is based upon truth.  So when we are with Jesus and adhered to Him, we are on firm foundation because Jesus is the Rock.  Jesus is truth.  Nothing can shake a house (and each of us individually is God's house) that is built on rock, but we have to be careful that we are not building our house on the lie of fear because then we are on shifting sand.

When Jesus set Mary Magdalene free, Scripture says that He freed her from seven devils (Lk 8:2).  He freed her of all of them.  That's what we want to happen to us as well.  We want to be freed from the roots of each of the  capital sins.  In 2 Kings, there's a beautiful story of Nahum.  He had leprosy, and he didn't want to do what the prophet had said.  The maid servant begged him to do it, so he did.  The request to the prophet was, "Bathe seven times in the Jordan" (2 Kgs 5:10).  That was all-bathe seven times in the Jordan.  He did, and he was totally reborn.  His flesh became just like a newborn child's.  This is what we want to do throughout this week: to bathe seven times in the Living Water, bathe seven times in those waters that will take us fully into the Promised Land, fully into the intimacy of God, and fully back into the Garden again. 

Excerpt from Mother Nadine's "Prayer Warrior Summit: The Identity of Prayer Warriors," 2002.