When “No” is the answer

                                          When “No” is the answer.

                    “The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes.” – Tony Blair

One of the greatest struggles facing this age is that of choice. Before you ask why it is a big deal. It’s a problem because we live a life of option. Let me restate here that the purpose of learning and acquiring knowledge is to have enough information to guide us make choices in life. Man was created a free thinking agent. To some people freedom could mean being able to do whatever they feel like. However, real freedom means the responsibility of making moral choices and living with the result. Every human being has the freewill to choose between right and wrong and the responsibility to do so. Yet we make choices but don’t want to be held accountable for our decisions.

In basic economics, the first lesson taught is that of Choice, Scarcity and Wealth. The reason could be that wealth is scared and not evenly distributed. We need to understand our priority and choose it first, given the constraints of scarcity and time. At every life’s road junction, you make a decision to turn right or left. You choose whether to play or sleep; what meal you desire to have, depending on time and resources available. The whole life on earth is a life in time, in motion. Peter Kreeft in his book titled ‘Making Choices’ put it this way: “The ship of life is moving. The sea is time and it is not still. The ship is drifting with the current. You can’t still by not choosing. If you don’t choose, the current will choose for you. Your fuel will soon run out. The point where the fuel is gone is called death.

We are living in an unstoppable flow of time which moves forward; have two options not three. A person can choose right or wrong, to believe or not to believe; not to choose is to choose to say no”. Kreeft further opined that mankind will make three single important choices sometime between your birth and your death that will change your whole life. They are: i] the God to believe in, ii] mate to marry, iii] career to work in. You may choose not to marry or not to work, but can’t choose not to believe in anything; if you choose not to believe in true God, you have chosen to believe in any of the society’s false gods: money, sex, drugs, power, prestige or whatever, something must be your number one.

In the Genesis of the bible, the God of creation put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and gave them enough information about things in the garden: what to do and what to refrain [Gen.2:15-17]. God warned, ‘for in the day you eat the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will die.’  The result of the choice they made is common knowledge. Again, before Moses informed the children of Israel that God had chosen his successor, Joshua and instructed him not to cross to Jordan, he  reiterated plainly the commandments of God to ensure they understood what they were, where they were located and God’s expectations [Deuteronomy 30]. In verse 15, Moses challenged them, ‘See I have set before you this day, life and death to choose one. Whichever you choose, you are responsible for its consequence[s]. However, I advice you to choose God, who is life so that you may live.’ Isn’t that still relevant to us today?

Why is choice such a hard thing for this age? After all, we live in a more advanced age than did our past centuries’ parents. We have qualitative education and better exposure than past generations. We live in a Computer age with better telecommunication facilities, jet age transportation system, and sophisticated medical facilities and so on. Surprisingly modern technology, communications and transportation have not solved human situation. Our problem is Spiritual and has to do with moral choices. We love pleasure and enjoyment; hate pains and sufferings. We enjoy compromise and conformity, even when it runs against God’s commandment and displeases other people.  We live to satisfy our bodies, our feelings and our world –what we see, like, want, etc. We are lured to live above our incomes, and remain proud in debts; live in pretense-posing what we are not. We like to be everything to everybody, in the process makes friendship with man, the world and the devil; that does not matter. We want to belong to a larger crowd and ply the wide, express road than ply the narrow road that leads to eternity.

Our age has witnessed dramatic drift in value and pursuits. There’s a wise saying that men do things for 3 letter word-LEG: meaning love, ego and gain. Greed runs our systems and destroys our souls. These pursuits have put many people in prisons not demarcated by wall of bricks, but have enslaved their consciences. The effect is that we live in fears, intimidations, disappointments, and wars, even when we claimed liberty and freedom. In an aired television program, prison inmates who committed murder were interviewed. Some confessed they lived ‘I don’t care life.’ Then they never realized how many people cared and would be affected by their folly. They realize now, that they had a wider audience – God, the Church, family, friends, and the world cared; somebody somewhere cares.  Their minds were blindfolded, driven by what they wanted to get and unable to say no to their feelings, inordinate desires and their world. Despite this confession, many out there in the free world still act same, their dooms are imminent.

Do you know that ‘no’ is the greatest word you can say to the devil, to your feelings, to temptations, to sin, to frustration, fears, disappointment and to death? It’s a short two letter word but has long effect. As long as you say no to anything, it can do nothing to you; can’t enslave or hurt you. It has no power over you and can’t make you do it. The devil can’t make you do anything except you accept it and yield to it [Rom.6:1-2, 12-16].The moment you say no to the devil or feelings, the thoughts and urges become persistence. To say no means to resist, refuse, reject his lies and manipulations. Apostle James says the only way to resist the devil is to submit totally to God [James 4:7]. A world wide television preacher Pastor Mike Murdock taught four common weapons of the devil. These four [4D’s] are:  a] Delays [Daniel 10:12-14],    b] Deceit, lies, deception, cunning, manipulations.[Genesis 3:4,5;Rev.12:9], c] Distraction[ Psalms 2:1,2; Job1:21 ], d] Disappointments [Prov.15:22]. These weapons the devil still uses today.

Part 11 – Resist the devil and submit to God

When Satan does tempt us? Let’s learn from two biblical passages: In the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 4 verses1-11, Satan tempted Jesus after His baptism, when He was filled with the Holy Spirit, in the wilderness/mountain [fasting and praying], while he was hungry, in desperation or need. Jesus said no to the devil on the basis of His knowledge of the word of God. In another biblical illustration [Genesis 39:1-13], Joseph was tempted when:  enjoying favor of God and his master [vs2, 4], made overseer of his master’s household [vs4], when the land prospered [vs5], his handsomeness blossomed -tall and good looking [vs6], master’s wife cast longing eyes on him [vs7]. Joseph refused for fear and honor of God and the master [Proverbs 6:32-35, 9:17-18, 25:28].

How the devil gets at us today? In the company we keep, things we hear and accept affect our actions, what we watch /view on TV, movies, on the street, in the crowd, on  internet etc;  the things we read-horoscope,  pornography  and the environment we dwell and visit; things we love and want.

What will make us say no? – the fear of God, passion to keep right our relationship with Christ,  knowledge of the word of God, determination /decision to live a righteous life pleasing to God, fear of judgment and suffering and  not to loose our anointing/ grieve the Spirit of God in us. Jesus had the power to command stone into bread, to jump from mountain to valley but rejected Satan’s manipulations. Jesus knew to bow and worship Satan was an easy option, but stood firm on His commitment to the Father. In the book of Daniel1:8 and 3:16-18, Daniel proposed in his heart to reject the king’s delicacies and the three Hebrew boys determined neither to bow, worship nor serve  the man-made god of king Nebuchadnezzar. In other instances, Joseph said no to the master’s wife and considered such an act a great wickedness to God. David refused to kill King Saul even when he had ample opportunities to do so because He was chosen by God. It means we can say no to our affections, inordinate ambitions, to drugs, to fornications, to greed and lust. We can say no to illness by eating and living right; to pretense, confusion and frustrations. Continue to say it, keep and increase your confession until you prevail. Keep asking, seeking and knocking until there’s an answer.

When you resist the devil he will flee or leave you. As true as this is, the devil may resist you, increase the intensity of its attack, inflict more pains, pursue, torment and lie against you; may discourage, condemn, mock, laugh as well as obtain permission to test your confession and faith. Know that he is a tricky manipulator and does not give up easily. Recognize that the battle is not yours but the Lord’s and God has not left you without authority and power [Luke 9:1; 10:19; John10:10; 1Timothy.4:1; Hebrews.8:6]. Know that you have power in the name of Jesus to kick, stop, bind, overcome and disgrace Satan. Never change, never waiver and never get nervous; bring every negative thoughts under control. Proverbs 25:28 says ‘He who has no rule over his own Spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls.’  Stand still; trust the Lord for victory and He will never fail you.

If Jesus is your Lord, Savior and Redeemer, then He’s a winner all the time, why behalf like an infidel or a looser. You need to confess what you believe and stand on the word of God. You are a child of God and your body belongs to Him, not the devil or sickness. Draw nearer to God and He will draw nearer to you. Abide in God and God will abide in you. You cannot be a winner if you do not fight a battle. You can not be a General when you do not persist in war. God had given us His Spirit and the manifestation of His Spirit is given to every man, to profit; not everyone except you [1Cor.12:7]. John Mason once said, ‘Every accomplishment, great or small, starts with a decision; choice not chance, determines destiny.’  Let your destiny determines your circumstances. We have the will power to say no. David Ambrose remarked, if you have the will to win, you have achieved half your success; if you don’t, you have achieved half your failure.

How often have we said yes instead of no? When we do, we feel sense of failure.   Failure is a situation, never a person; is a delay but not a defeat. It’s a temporary detour not a dead end. Proverbs 24:16 reads ‘For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again’. Failure is not falling down but staying down. Just like temptation is no sin, stumble is not a fall but could prevent or cause a fall. David Burns said, ‘Assert your right to make a few mistake. If people can’t accept your imperfection, that’s their fault.’ Do not stay a shame of mistakes, even when it’s knowingly, for all make mistakes and have failed, but we are not failures until we say so. God sees us as winners in Christ Jesus. If our Creator has not called us failures, then we are not one, no matter what people say or world standards hold.

I don’t know about you, but I confess in the sincerity of my heart, I have said yes severally to feelings, to peer pressures and to the devil’s manipulations even more often than I can count. Each time I have learned how God’s kindness invites me to repentance. Where sin abound God’s grace abound more. I always apply the rebounds technique: If you sincerely confess your sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness [1 John 1:8-9]. It’s real and awesome to experience God’s love when you’re lost. The only way to resist your feelings or the enemy is to yield completely to God.

Reach: Evangelist Ogbonnaya, Godswill@weefreeministries.org or P. O. Box 720035, Houston, Texas, 77272.