SEVEN STEPS TO OVERCOMING SPIRITUAL WARFARE IN THE MARKETPLACE:
Step #3: Know the three tactics of the enemy – lust of the flesh, lust of the eye and the pride of life.
There are three killers on the loose and they want to destroy YOU as an entrepreneur aligned with the kingdom of God.
In 1 John 2:16, the NLT version defines them this way: a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions.
How does Satan and his minions use these tactics to get us off course and bring destruction?
A craving for physical pleasure.
Let’s be clear, pleasure, even physical pleasure is not wrong. God created it all. The problem with the craving for physical pleasure, when it is not kept in it’s proper boundaries, is that it distracts us from the race, and the goals that God has put in front of us.
How many thousands of hours of productive, goal oriented, God directed, profit making labor have been lost to the viewing of pornography for example. We know it is happening because 70% of all online pornography access occurs between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Office affairs are even worse. They have the power to destroy a team or even a whole enterprise. Just as scripture warned; the unbounded desire for physical pleasure creates a destructive diversion.
A craving for everything we see.
At Nehemiah Project we believe in what we call “Multiple Bottom Lines.” In other words, we believe that success is not merely measured by how much profit the owner of a business is able to take home. It matters how their employees, suppliers, customers, and even their community are impacted by the business.
The challenge of what the KJV calls “the lust of the eyes”, the desire for everything we see, is that it means that there is simply never enough. Never enough stuff, never enough profit, and never enough personal success. This causes the business owner to take more and more of the profit for themselves and that, in the long run, can destroy the company’s sustainability.
Beyond that, the “lust of the eyes” creates a continual sense of dissatisfaction. While the Bible tells us that “Godliness with contentment is great gain”, this tactic of Satan causes us to feel like more and more and more gain is the only way to find contentment. It doesn’t work. Discontent feeds on and reproduces itself in even greater measure. If having “more” is the measure of happiness, you will never be happy.
Pride in our achievements and possessions.
One thing that is clearly taught in the Biblical Entrepreneurship course is this: You are a steward of your business. You don’t own it, God does! The “pride of life” tells us just the opposite: I own this thing. It is because of my great abilities that everything that is good has happened.
Why does your spiritual enemy love for us to believe that lie? Because it causes us to stop listening. We need the wisdom of God. We need to hear his voice. We are NOT smart or able enough to run the business God has entrusted to us with just our own insights. Pride is a killer. It kills our dependance on Him. It kills our willingness to really listen to others. And It has the power to destroy all the success we have worked so hard to achieve.
So, if those are the killers of our success, how do we keep ourselves and our businesses safe? The next verse (1 John 2:17) holds the key: This world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. What do we do? Simply this, realize the temporary nature of the things of this world and do what pleases God. Get so busy doing what God has given you to do, including building your business His way, that you have no time to get sucked up into the desires of this world. Each moment be asking, “God, what do you want me to be doing?” Then do it! This is true spiritual warfare; ignoring the voices of lust, covetousness and pride, and listening intently to the still small voice of direction from God himself.
– posted by: Randall Sanford