Rodney Howard Browne The Devil’s Devices

Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.2 Corinthians 2:10-11 NKJV

Rodney Howard Browne teaches that God loves us with all His heart. We are the crowning glory of His creation. He made the earth and everything on the earth before He made us and placed us in the middle of it. The devil hates God and he hates God’s creation. The devil tries to destroy man by trying to get us destroy each other. If we are ignorant of his devices and how he operates, then we won’t recognize his handiwork and he will be able to take advantage of us. If we are aware of his tactics and his devices, then we will recognize when he is at work and then he is in trouble because we will be able to deal with him and we will defeat him. One of the ways the devil gains the advantage over us is by stirring up strife between us. Then he manages to maintain an ongoing advantage by keeping the strife fresh in our hearts by getting us to walk in unforgiveness toward one another.

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.James 3:13-18 NKJV

Envy and selfishness are earthly, sensual and even demonic. When we are envious, covetous and selfish, then we will inevitably strive with one another. We will fight each other for wealth, power and control. This covetousness and strife opens the door to confusion and every evil work. In other words, the devil has his way, imposing his will on us. The love of money and worldly goods is the root of all kinds of evil and it will destroy the covetous person in the end.

Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.1 Timothy 6:5-11 NKJV

Rodney Howard Browne shows us that God does not want us to be destroyed and if we do not want to reap a harvest of destruction in our lives, then it is vital that we seek peace and pursue it. It is vital that we are peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. We must flee envy, selfishness and covetousness and we must pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.

Rodney Howard Browne points out that we must be aware that when we strive with each other, that we give the devil the advantage, but when we do everything we know to do to walk in love and forgiveness by the help of the Holy Spirit, then we close of any avenue that the devil might have had and instead, we give place to the Lord, Who will defend and protect us. The blood of Jesus and the Name of Jesus will give us the advantage over the devil and that is where we want to be. He is under our feet as long as we are submitted to God and as long as we are joined together in unity and peace with each other.

Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.

Ephesians 4:25-27 NKJV

Don’t be ignorant. Don’t give place to the devil. Walk in love and refuse to strive with your fellow man. Rather give place to the Holy Spirit!

Rodney Howard Browne The Word

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy– meditate on these things. Philippians 4:8 NKJ

As most of us were growing up, we were taught by parents, teachers and even religious leaders, to modify and control our outward behavior, but not necessarily our thought life. However, the Lord made it very clear in the Old and New Covenant that our thought life influences our behavior and therefore it dominates the success or failure of our life. Proverbs 23:7 says that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. He may say one thing with his mouth, but his thoughts represent what he truly thinks and feels.

In order to truly influence a person, you must influence their mindset, not just their behavior. You can dominate someone in order to control their behavior, but if you do not influence their opinions, then when they leave your presence they will go ahead and do whatever they have decided to do anyway. As we raise our children, we should watch over their attitudes and keep them on track as much as we watch their behavior. When you bring correction to your children you must see that your discipline influences their attitude and straightens it out and the desired behavior will automatically follow. The bottom line is that they should have a soft heart toward God, not a hard one. And, most importantly, YOU make sure that you set a good example. BE who you want THEM to BE.

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:27-28 NKJ

And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” Mark 7:20-23 NKJ

If you have sinned in your heart, then you have sinned. Deal with sin at the root level – in your thought life – and it will not be able to destroy your life, because even at the current rate of inflation, the wages of sin is still death! Whatever we feed our heart and mind is what we will think about and what we will eventually be saying and doing. Many times even people who are born again have friends who are a bad influence. They think that the crude, worldly talk will not influence them, but before they know it they are talking and acting just like those friends and they have left Jesus behind!

If you regularly expose yourself, by what you hear and see, to any form of uncleanness – lies, bad reports and any unjust, impure, unlovely, ugly, critical, evil, ignoble things, then they will begin to play in your mind like a video. If you don’t get rid of the thoughts and stop allowing yourself to think on them then you will be in big trouble before long. The Lord looks on the heart, because our heart, with all its attitudes and opinions, is who we really are. We may be able to fool other people for a while with our outward show, but God knows who we really are and what we really think. We think that we are fooling people, because we are secure in the privacy of our own imagination, but many times even they eventually see through the façade. Your thoughts are revealed in your face more than you think they are!

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.

Psalms 1:1-3 NKJ

If you want to change the course of your life – change the way you think and what you think about. Stop thinking negative, evil, destructive, unproductive thoughts and fill yourself up with God’s word, meditating on it day and night. The devil may have lied to you and told you that you will never make it as a child of God because you are trapped in this twilight zone of evil thoughts that dominate and control you. You find yourself thinking them even when you don’t want to. Your only answer is to meditate on God’s word – constantly – and it will begin to crowd out the devil’s trash and burn it up. All that you need to do is to make a quality decision that you WILL be FREE, WHATEVER it takes!

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Galatians 5:19-24 NKJBrethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load. Galatians 6:1-5 NKJIf we yield to the lusts and desires of our flesh as a way of life, the works of the flesh will be evident in our lives. If we allow the Spirit of God to work in our lives and wash us clean, the fruit of the Spirit will be made manifest in and through us. The more we allow God to do His work in us, the more truly spiritual we become. People think that spirituality is something you say or do, but it is who you are. People can try to act spiritual or try to talk spiritual and yet still be manifesting the works of the flesh, because they are still yielding to their flesh and by that they prove that they are actually still very unspiritual. You can be quite “normal” and yet be filled with the power and anointing of God – as opposed to being a super-spiritual “spooky” Christian with no power and no wisdom.Being truly spiritual has nothing to do with a certain way of talking or acting, but it has to do with being totally yielded to the Spirit of God in every area of your life. When the Lord is allowed to have His way in your life, there is a sweetness, a holiness and a purity of attitude and speech that will be manifested in and through you that cannot be manufactured. The fruit of the Spirit is manifested through you even in the midst of extreme stress or pressure. When a believer falls into sin, spiritual believers are required to help by ministering to them and helping to restore them back into fellowship with God and their spiritual family. A spiritual believer will not judge or criticize their fellow fallen Christian, but instead they will walk in love and kindly and gently help them to repent and find God’s forgiveness and be restored into fellowship with God. In this way we help to bear their burdens. Unfortunately, many believers who commit sins that badly destroy their fellowship with the Lord have a hard time finding help from the Church, because there are no spiritual believers to be found.When you help to minister to a fallen believer, you get to know all their weaknesses and failures. If you have not dealt with your pride and if you think more highly of yourself than what you should, then you will begin to compare yourself with them or to judge them. If you do this, you will not be able to help them at all. If you are going to be of any help to your brother or sister, you must remain totally neutral. Do not judge or have any personal opinion, just speak the Word. God is the only One who has the right to judge. Do not condone the sin, but show mercy to the sinner as you know Jesus shows His mercy to them. Help them in the same way that you would like to be helped were you found in the same situation. Don’t discuss the situation with any one else either. Cover your fellow believer. Do not expose their personal situation to other people if they are looking to be restored. Some people disguise gossip about someone else by asking for prayer on their behalf and telling all the juicy details. Don’t do this.Be sure to consider yourself and your own heart and your own attitude as you help another person. If you must bring a rebuke or a correction, do it in love, to help not to condemn. You may have a reason to judge another person, but you don’t have the right. Many people have judged another person for their sin and then ended up in the same sin or a similar sin within two years themselves. We are all responsible for only our own actions, not those of another person. Do not seek after spirituality itself. Seek after God and His presence and you will be filled with all the fullness of God and be a vessel that God can effectively use to minister to the hurting.

James 3:2-12(NKJ)2For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.3Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.4Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.5Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles!6And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.7For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.8But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.9With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.10Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.11Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?12Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring can yield both salt water and fresh.Rodney Howard Browne teach that a spiritually mature person has their tongue under control. Even though the tongue is really small in size, compared to the rest of our body parts, it is very difficult to control. How many times have we said things that we have regretted later? Sometimes, we may have felt that we had “foot-in-mouth” disease! We may have felt that we only opened our mouth to change feet!Rodney Howard Browne points out that sometimes we say things that just embarrass ourselves, but other times we say things that can ruin relationships or even people’s lives. Words are powerful things. Good words or bad words can make all the difference in someone’s life. Words live on in the memory and can influence the course of a person’s life.Proverbs 15:4(NIV)4The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.Rodney Howard Browne shows us that when we speak positive words – they bring life and healing. Negative, bitter words crush a person’s spirit. The Holy Spirit will sanctify our speech if we allow Him to do so. We also need to be sensitive to our own spirit. When we speak wrong words, the spirit will convict us. If something bad slips out – don’t leave it there. Repent –apologize – say something positive.Proverbs 31:26(NKJ)26She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness.The wise, godly person is kind and gentle in their speech.1 Peter 3:9-12(NIV)9Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.10For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.11He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.12For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”Rodney Howard Browne points out that the words that come out of our mouth determine the blessings we experience in our own lives and the lives of others. If we want to have a long and a blessed life – we need to keep our tongue from evil and our lips from deceitful speech.