DOMINION OVER DARTS OF DOUBT (2)

“Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” – Genesis 3:1b

Humanity’s fall is traceable to inability to exercise DOMINION OVER DARTS of DOUBT: “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the filed which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” (Gen.3:1). The devil interrupted Eden’s serenity by attacking Eve’s heart with Darts of Doubt. Satan’s original temptation with Eve centred on her coming to a place of doubting or distorting God’s Word. Similar to how he introduced sin to Adam and Eve, Satan tries to attack hearts with darts of doubt in four main ways:

Dart One: Doubt God’s Word: “Has God indeed said …?” (v.1). Doubting God is the goal of the devil. If he can get his foot in the door by making us doubt God’s Word, the rest of his plan can quickly follow. Without the foundation of God’s Word believers are adrift, fall prey to every wind of doctrine, and get tossed to and fro. Satan tries to persuade us that the Bible is just like any other book. He tries to throw doubt against the veracity of God’s Word. His ultimate plan is to keep us from regular contact with the Lord by any of these tools: questioning the authority of God’s Word, avoiding the teaching of God’s Word, or neglecting the reading of God’s Word. The solution: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mt.4:4b).

Dart Two: Doubt God’s Goodness: “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” (v.1b). Here, the devil questioned God’s goodness to Eve. He still tries to bombard us with such lies. His fiery darts of lies are reserved for our most vulnerable moments when we are prone to ask, “Why me?”, “Why, Lord?” or “Why did God make me this way?” We must actively watch to not give the devil a place to land in our lives as he moves around like a prowling lion (Eph.4:27; 1Pet.5:8).

Dart Three: Doubt God’s Authority: “You will not surely die” (v.4). Here, Satan was point blank in his deception. He loves it when we doubt God’s authority! He wants us to believe that God is not in charge, that He is not interested in our choices, that He will not hold us accountable for our deeds, and that every individual should do whatever seems right in his or her own eyes. That is the hallmark of the fallen world, the attitude that says – take charge of your own life, and be all you can or want to be at any cost! Satan’s masterful scheme is to make us doubt, reject, and become deafened to Jesus’ Voice. Ask: “Whose voice am I listening to?

Dart Four: Doubt God’s plan: “Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (v.5). Here, the devil temporarily blocked Eve’s ears to the Creator’s voice. From the very beginning, Satan had sought to convince humankind that his way is better than God’s. His scheme is to plant thoughts that God’s way is too restrictive, but his way allows freedom to pursue whatever lusts will bring the greatest pleasure. Even now, he tries to entice us with his own plan for how we can achieve immortality, glory, and happiness, as he tries to impinge our hearts with thoughts of unrestrained desires and false freedom veiled as grace!

Doubts don’t really belong to Believers in Christ, until we consent to them and adopt them as true! Doubts, being the devil’s emissaries, are powerless over us until we accept and admit them! Doubts do not own us or define us, and they are certainly not our doubts if we do not dwell on them. The secret to silencing all doubts is to dwell on God and His Word (Isa.26:3). If doubts should still rise up in our hearts, we can exercise dominion over them with the power of Scriptures – Faith Scriptures preloaded into our heart.