DEFEATING REBELLION AND PRIDE

Rebellion and Witchcraft

That's a remarkable statement. God, speaking through His prophet Samuel, tells us that if a person goes into rebellion, He regards it as similar to the sin of witchcraft, or "divination,” as some translations put it. But how does rebellion resemble witchcraft? And what implications does this truth have for us today as we seek to walk in the victory Christ has secured for us over Satan and his ways?

First, you can't practice witchcraft without opening yourself up totally to the control of Satan and his demons. In fact, witchcraft brings a person in direct contact with the demonic world without any protection in between. Those who have been in that horrible practice will tell you that you are at his mercy when you venture into Satan’s kingdom. There's nothing to protect you from his attacks.

Losing God's Protection

So how does an awful sin like witchcraft compare to the sin of rebellion? In this way: when we rebel against God's constituted authority, we step out from under His protection and leave ourselves wide open to enemy attacks. I once asked my Sioux Indian friends, "If a fort was under attack by the Sioux, which side of the walls would I want to be on?" They all said the inside, of course. But rebellion puts me on the outside, where I'm completely vulnerable. In other words, what we are dealing with here is the issue of God's authority. Another word for authority is protection. God has established authority structures that provide us with spiritual protection when we properly submit to them.

One of these God-ordained authority structures is the church.

That's why, as we saw earlier, church discipline is the process of removing a person from the protection of the church and turning him or her over to demons to be tormented and brought to repentance. Family and government are two more structures that God also designs to give us spiritual protection. We should submit to their authority in our lives.

You may not like a lot of what's happening in our government. I'm not thrilled with it either. But if you've ever been in a country where the government was being overthrown, you’ll discover quickly that government is better than anarchy.

I was in Nigeria when an attempted coup occurred. One day, everything was fine. The next day, the streets were full of soldiers and tanks. There was a complete information blackout, so no one knew what was happening. It was a horrible experience. I was petrified. We were totally at the mercy of those troops. Let me tell you, government is better than anarchy because an organized, respected government provides protection.

Biblical concepts like authority, submission, and obedience are not popular today. That's more an indictment of our age than a legitimate criticism of Scripture. But we should not question the importance of authority and obedience. Consider the family. An authority structure is God's plan and way He designed the family to work. We will pay a price if we dodge, deny, or ignore His clear teaching on authority.

Please make no mistake about it. A family where the children are living in obedient submission to their parents, where the wife helps her husband, sharing her input and wisdom with him and then supporting him in his decisions, and where the husband is living in obedient submission to God is not some outdated arrangement. It is God's plan, and He expects us to line up under His authority structure.

Heading Straight Down

The consequences for disregarding or disobeying authority are so sure and so devastating that we cannot afford them any longer in our own families or in the family of God. He will not tolerate rebellion. What happens when you or I rebel? When I rebel, I move out from under God's protection. Now what's between me and the forces of evil? Noth. ing! Demonic spirits have direct access to me. This is how rebellion is like witchcraft, because in witchcraft a person attempts to make direct contact with spirits.

LITTLE BY LITTLE THEN ALL AT ONCE.

That's how it is with rebellion. Have you ever seen a rebel draw closer to God? No, he moves away from God. A boy rebels against his parents, and nothing seems to happen for a time. Then he hits that particular point, and from there, it's downhill. That rebel is in for a frightening ride, and I've seen some real tragedies come into the rebels’ lives.

Foolishness, Disobedience, and Rebellion

Rebellion is severe and needs to be treated seriously. But I've had parents confuse rebellion with foolishness. They bring their kids to me and say, "Mr. Logan, my child is rebellious." When I talk to the son or daughter, however, I discover they aren't really rebellious at all. That's why I chink it's so helpful with parents to distinguish between foolishness, disobedience, and rebellion. They're not the same.

Suppose a neighbor boy comes over to your house, picks up your son's ball, and says, "Here, catch." So the kids start playing ball in the house and they break a lamp. That's foolishness You may need to apply some discipline for breaking the lamp, but the root of the problem was not rebellion.

Suppose the same kid comes over the next day and says, "Let's play catch." Your son says, "Oh, no. My dad says we can't play ball in the living room."

"Come on, just once," the other kid says. So your son throws the ball, and it breaks a lamp.

That's disobedience. You told him not to do it, and he did it.

Suppose the same neighbor kid shows up again the third day and the same conversation takes place. Your son refuses to play ball in the living room because his dad said so. Only this time the other boy replies, "Your dad has no right to tell you what to do."

That's rebellion. It's challenging the right of an authority to be there. Who gave fathers their authority? God did, so when children challenge a dad's authority, they really challenge God.

SUBMITTING TO AUTHORITY IS PROTECTION

Romans 13:1-4 deals with the authority God has established:

Romans 13:1–4 KJV 1900

1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: 4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.

Paul says authority figures are God's ministers. Of course, he's talking about the office here, not necessarily the person. What about a person who is in a dangerous authority structure? He or she needs to be removed and placed under another authority.

We can't let a child, for example, be continually sexually abused by someone in authority. In that case we try to move the child into a different authority structure, but not take her out from under authority altogether. Why? Because authority is protection, and we need as much spiritual protection as possible.

First Timothy 2:1-4 tells us to pray for all of those in authority.

1 Timothy 2:1–4 KJV 1900

1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

The only thing that will make a difference in the leadership of our country is prayer. Instead of running our leaders down, we need to ENCOURAGE AND EDIFY them!

Ephesians 6:1–3 KJV 1900

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2 Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) 3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

is vital truth for children and teenagers. For years I had skipped over the first half of verse 3, which says children should obey and be respectful so that "it may be well with (them]." You know what that means? If children and teens are not obeying their parents, it is God's responsibility to see that things don't go well for them. God honors His Word!

If you're a parent, you can help your children in growing up by teaching them obedience and respect. Remember that there are two sides to this thing. Obedience is an action; honor is an attitude. Honor means respect, and children need to be disciplined for being disrespectful. The child who snarls, stomps off, and slams the door behind him when he's asked to clean up his room needs to be brought back for an attitude tune-up. Why? Because where there is dishonor, there will soon be disobedience. We always tried to discipline our kids at the attitude and character stage before it came to the action stage.

What if an authority asks children to do something clearly violating the teaching of God's Word? Then they need to appeal with a respectful attitude. Our four children often had to stand alone for biblical principles in the public schools. Our oldest daughter, Cheryl, was the shiest of all the kids. In high school, she was in a choir chat was ranked all-state. The problem was, her choir was planning to sing the song "Aquarius," a 1960s hit that says we get our guidance from the

stars.

The Sad Results of Rebellion

Unfortunately, not all the testimonies I have on file regarding rebellion and authority end so happily. Several years ago Stuart, a sixteen-year-old, came to my office. He was deeply into homosexuality and was practicing satanism. He describes his attitudes and actions to his father and God:

Rebellion is something every teenager has to deal with. Every young person needs to answer the question, Who is going to be the final authority in my life?

For many of the adults I counsel, rebellion is something that was in the past and has been dealt with. In these cases, they may need to ask God to take back the ground they yielded in rebellion.

Wherever we are on the spectrum, we all need to place ourselves under the authorities God has put over us. Even if these authorities are not perfect, and none of them are, they provide us with spiritual protection from direct demonic attacks.

Pride

They realize that pride has become the source of the problem, the base from which Satan has been able to launch his attacks. Even though the counseling sessions have not yet dealt directly with the enemy's influence in the person's life, the problem of pride becomes obvious. That's how important the issue of pride is.

The Original Sin

Sometimes we forget pride was the original sin in God's universe.

Before Adam and Eve were ever created and placed in the Garden of Eden, the angel Lucifer, who stood in the very presence of God, allowed his heart to swell with pride at his exalted position. His pride led him into foolish rebellion as he tried to usurp the throne of God. Is it any wonder then that the one who became Satan would use pride as one of his most effective weapons?

Pride originated in heaven, and we can see this by looking at Ezekiel 28:11-19. Bible scholars debate whether this passage and Isaiah 14 as well, refer to Satan or to human rulers. But notice that Ezekiel changes his reference from "prince" (28:2) to "king" (28:12), using both different Hebrew words and issuing different indictments in the two verses. The prince of verses 2-10 is judged because he, though a mere man, tried to be like God. But the exalted language of verses 11-19 cannot be ascribed to a mere human. Verses 11-15 describe the beauty of Satan before his fall.

As the prince of angels, he was covered with a robe of precious stones, and light came from him.

The revelation of Satan's transgression is found in verse 17: "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty." The prophet Isaiah makes the picture even more evident when he declares, "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" (14:12). Isaiah then recounts Satan's five "I will" statements showing this dark angel's prideful rebellion against God.

A Sin of the Heart

Whenever I read this with those I counsel, I ask them, "Who was Lucifer speaking to when he said these things?" The inevitable answer is that he was talking to God.

But then I have them reread it. Satan made his pride statements not to God, not even out loud necessarily, but in his heart (v. 13).

God judged Satan for the thoughts of his heart because as a person thinks in his heart, "so is he" (Proverbs 23:7).

The Bible says this repeatedly, by the way. If you want to do a fascinating Bible study, get a Bible concordance and look up every reference to what we say in our hearts. You'll be amazed at what you find.

I'm convinced that real and lasting change will never be made in people's lives until they change the way chey think. Remember, the strongholds the enemy builds in our lives are constructed on lies.

These lies are repeated so often that we come to believe and act on them. That's why part of spiritual warfare is tearing down these strongholds.

The last of Satan's "I will" claims recorded in Isaiah 14 is the most important for our purposes. "I will be like the Most High" (v. 14). Why, out of all the names for God that Satan could have used, did he choose this one? "The Most High" is a translation of El Elyon, which literally means "the sovereign one who reigns" or "the one who reigns sovereignty in heaven and on earth."

Satan was saying here that he wanted to be like God in control, but not in character. He wanted to rule. He wanted to run his own life. Satan's rebellion was creature-centered, just like the New Age today.

Satanic symbols and the statement like “Control Your Own Destiny”

The Worst Sin

Do you see why pride is so repugnant to God? Do you see why it's the worst sin anyone can commit? It's like waving a fist of rebellion in the face of the Ruler of the universe.

When you attempt to run your own life and say, "God, You rule heaven, Ill rule me," you are most like Satan.

We must see the sin of pride for what it is and what it does.

A quick run-through of Proverbs reveals God's attitude and response to pride. If we begin at Proverbs 6:16-17, we find this devastating pronouncement: pride is at the top of the seven sins God hates most.

"The fear of the Lord is to hate evil," according to Proverbs 8:13.

And in Proverbs 6:17, the first evil listed is pride: the haughty eyes reflect both arrogance and pride. In fact, this verse can be translated to mean that God hates pride and arrogance as much as an evil lifestyle.

Why is that? What's so terrible about pride? It is setting you and right and wrong for us. That staking God’s place in our lives, and He hates it.

But the Proverbs have a lot more to say. "When pride comes, then comes shame" (11:2). Notice the text doesn't say exactly how this happens, but the link between the two is inescapable. Proverbs 13:10 says,

"By pride comes nothing but strife." Ever had any strife in your home or church? We all have. At its root is pride.

Proverbs 15:25 is a warning to families: "The Lord will destroy the house of the proud." Interestingly, many teenagers who are angry at their fathers ask me two common questions: "Why is he always angry?" and "Why won't he ever admit he's wrong?" The teenagers resent their fathers' attitude, and many rebel because "Dad acts like he's always right and has to do things his way." Sadly, many fathers think that if they admit they're wrong, they will lose face before their kids.

Fathers don’t realize that if they refuse to admit they're wrong, they've already lost face with their children. Pride builds walls between people, but those walls have to come down because God says He will destroy the house of the proud. He's not talking about a physical building here, but a family. There's a Bible promise you'll never hear in a praise meeting!

"Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 16:5). Abomination is one of the hardest and strongest words in the Old Testament. An abomination is something detestable and repulsive.

One of the most famous Proverbs on pride is 16:18: "Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall."

And finally, Proverbs 29:23 says, “a man's pride will bring him low." Every one of these verses is worthy of more study, but I wanted to give you a sense of how seriously God views pride and how categorically the Bible denounces it.

Dealing with Pride

How does all of this happen? How can pride enter a person's life and bring such destruction? And how do we deal with chis sin? Thankfully, the dynamics of how this works are explained for us in the book of James, which is the Proverbs of the New Testament. I guarantee you that if you can get hold of the truth we're about to consider, it can turn your life around.

For an example of humility, which is the opposite of pride, consider the author of the book of James. As the half brother of the Lord lesus Christ. James could have touted his relationship in his letter to Christians. When you and I know somebody important, sometimes we're tempted to do just that. By the way, did you know I had lunch in Washington along with the president one day? I did. I ate lunch in Washington one day and the president was somewhere in town eating lunch too, I'm sure.

But in the opening words of the book of James, the apostle wrote with humility. He did not start out, "James the half brother of Jesus.

You'd better listen to what I'm saying." Instead, James identifies himself simply as a servant of Christ. He realized his purpose was to serve, not to win praise or attention. So we know that when James gets ready to talk about pride and humility we need to listen, because he obviously possessed humility.

"More Grace"

The antidote to pride is recognizing God's grace. Knowing His gift to us, we realize that in ourselves we have little to offer. Instead, we respond in humility to His graciousness. Interestingly the apostle wrote that God gives "more grace" (4:6). Isn't that great? Which do you want, grace or

"more grace"? The problem is, if God is going to give me more of it, what is grace? I find that many Christians don't really know what it is.

Many of us accept that definition of grace as the "unmerited favor of God." But His love and mercy are unmerited too. We need a definition of grace that takes us beyond that. We can't find salvation without grace. We need grace for spiritual warfare. We need grace for spiritual victory. But what is grace?

If you're a follower of Christ,' God is working in your life right now, according to Philippians 1:6. Remember, as Christians vou and I are people in progress. God is actively working in two ways, according to Philippians 2:13. He is working in us "both [1] to will and [2] to do for his good pleasure." This means God is giving me both the desire and the power to please Him. That's what grace is.

So when God promises to give us more grace (James 4:6), He offers more desire and power than we need. Then do we need to fear the enemy and his assaults?

Not at all. As we'll see in a later chapter, when we're in God's will He builds a hedge of protection around us. The enemy can only get at us with his temptations with God's permission. And God will give us "more grace" to respond to those temptations victoriously:

The Reason for Defeat

If all this power allows us to live victorious Christian lives, you may ask, "Why are there so many losers on the winning team? Why is the church full of so many defeated Christians? Why are so many youth groups plagued by the same sins that mark unbelieving young people?" Many rightly ask those questions and may even wonder, though they wouldn't ask it out loud, Has God failed us?

What's the problem? Pride. When we let pride come into our lives, God withholds spiritual power. And as we read in Proverbs after pride comes a fall. The enemy brings in a destructive temptation that is too strong for us to handle, and without God's power, we fall.

It makes sense. Look at the second half of James 4:6

James 4:6 KJV 1900

6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

Therefore, He says, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble."

This is the reverse of Romans 8:31

Romans 8:31 KJV 1900

31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

That's a great verse, but think about what the opposite of it must mean. If God resists you, does who is for you make any difference?

When I see the word resist, I picture a big arm coming out of heaven, keeping me from fellowship. And sin does that.

When Satan succumbed to pride, God shoved him out of heaven.

When I allow pride in my life, God shoves me away, as it were. He says,

“Till take My power off of your life." What will happen then? F'll fall.

That's why as long as we allow pride in our lives, it's all over spiritually for us. It's just a matter of time until we fall. Pride precedes a fall. But God gives grace to a humble person, the one who says,

"Lord, without Your empowering, I can't do it. If You don't give me Your strength for today, I won’t make it. Lord, I need You.

Submitting to God

A key part in dealing with pride is found in this divine order: (James 4:7

James 4:7 KJV 1900

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

It's not hard to understand this command with a promise. The key is in the first three letters of the word submit. "sub" means to rank under.

We submit to God, and from the place of submission to Him we are ready to resist. Submission is the first thing we must do to succeed in spiritual warfare. That usually means a battle with pride right off, because it's not natural for human beings to relinquish control of their lives to anyone else. It can only be done supernaturally.

Resisting Satan

Notice that we are not ready to resist Satan's approach until we submit to God. People always tell me, "Oh, I tried to resist Satan, but it doesn't work." That's just the problem. We cannot "work" it ourselves.

We have to work it on God's terms. If we're prideful, guess what? The devil isn't going anywhere.

We have to understand that we don't have a better idea. We've got to get our lives under what God says. Then we'll have the benefit of what He promises.

A good question to ask yourself is, Am I willing to submit to God in every area of my life, to rank myself under His authority? If not, you'll experience constant defeat in resisting Satan. It's vital that you see this. It could turn the whole battle for you.

List any area where they're having trouble submitting to God, and then release these areas to Him.

we'll deal more fully with this all-important subject of resisting Satan.

Following God's Plan

I'm not suggesting that resisting Satan or submitting to God is always accessible. Sometimes, it's hard for me to say no to myself and my will and yes to God. Why is it so difficult? Because my ways are not God's ways (see Isaiah 55:8

Isaiah 55:8 KJV 1900

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

Sometimes I say to myself and God, "I know your ways are not like mine. I wish they were." You see, I know that God's ways are different than mine- and much better and wiser. But it's still a struggle for me to get under God's authority. Sometimes, God wants me to do things that I don't think I want to do.

I remember one particular struggle so well. I accepted God’s call to minister

There's no way I can handle it, I told myself.

On and on I went, complaining. doubting, resisting.

Dumb me! After that, I realized I could go after all.

We've all had those struggles; those wrestling matches with the Lord to get our will underneath His in submission. I'm glad in my case that God has won His share. I'm thankful that He won when His will didn't look appealing or didn't even look like the right thing to do. I knew the problem wasn't what

God was asking me to do. What He wanted was for me to bring my will under His authority. If I didn't, I knew I would be defeated.

One thing I learned early on in my counseling ministry: this kind of ministry can humble you very quickly. Sometimes I walk up and down the hall in our offices saying, "God, I don't know what to do. A person in my office is being tormented, and I don't know what to do. I've tried everything."

That's humbling, let me assure you. But I thank God for what those experiences teach me. Many times my colleagues and I get together in our offices and pray, "Lord, we don't know what to do. We want to help this person, but we don't know how. Show us what to do."

Who's in Charge?

So we return to the one great battle we all have to fight: who will be the final authority in my life? Am I going to hold on to the throne of my heart in stubborn pride, or will I let the Lord Jesus be Lord of my life?

It’s incredible how closely authority and power are linked in Scripture. You're either under God's authority, submitting to Him, or resisting Him. If you resist God in any area of your life, you will not have the strength to resist the enemy.

My Way or God's Way

If pride is such a lethal problem, maybe we should ask how to eliminate it. I think you know the answer to that. We cannot. We can never rid ourselves of pride once and for all-we never will as long as we're in this body. Pride is allowing myself to sit on the throne of my life instead of Christ. It's building life around my will instead of God's will. But we can deal with our pride, as Jesus tells us in Luke

9:23. The answer is you, and I must deny self. Whenever someone says, "I'm just trying to find myself," I reply, "When you find it, crucify it."

Jesus said we must take up our cross daily and follow Him. I see the cross here in a very general way as God's will and purpose for my life. It's a decision we need to make every day of our lives. As the apostle Paul did, we must act in light of the truth that when we are crucified with Christ, it is Christ who lives in us and empowers us, and we live by faith in the Son of God, who loved (us] and gave Himself for (us]" (Galatians 2:20).

I request those I counsel to write Luke 9:23

Luke 9:23 KJV 1900

23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

on a card and put it on their bathroom mirror or somewhere so that they see it every day and are reminded of the decision they have to make. I encourage you to do the same. It makes for a healthy, balanced life in which Christ is in control and we submit to His leadership. There is little room for Satan in such a life.

When we try to regain control of our lives’ reins, pain eventually follows. No one is immune. I get calls from people who have lost their ministries and are sometimes facing jail, because at some point, they decided to do what they wanted to do.

Jesus goes on to say in Luke 9:24

Luke 9:24 KJV 1900

24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

There are only two ways: your way, and God's way. You've got to decide which it will be. I pray you will learn to deal with pride and let it go.

Rebellion

‌

1. Ask God to forgive you for not submitting to the authorities He has placed in your life.

‌

2. Purpose in your heart to get under all the proper authorities in your life, whether God, the church, the government, your parents, your husband, an educational institution, or your employer.

‌

3. Ask forgiveness of the authorities you have rebelled against and tell them that with God's help, you will submit to them. Enlist their prayer support where that is appropriate.