Blinding the Eyes of the Enemy Part II

Last week, we discussed how dwelling in the secret place is the key to staying hidden from the eye of the adversary in your life. Intimacy with God is the very thing that blinds your spiritual opponents. The life lived in the cocoon of God’s presence frustrates the enemy and thwarts his assaults against our families, churches and communities, as well as our health and finances.

Dwelling in the Glory realm is not an option for the believer. The secret place is a place of vulnerability both for you and for God. In this place of intimacy, you open your heart to God, and He opens His to you. It is the place where inmost secrets are revealed. Did you know that God wants to make Himself vulnerable to you? He is looking for a friend He can trust.

He said of Abraham: Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing? (Gen. 18:17). The mysteries of God become unhidden in the place of intimacy and friendship. As we draw near to Him, He pours out secret counsel and withholds nothing from us.

The opposite is true in the case of sin. Where there is hardness of heart or rebellion, God reveals nothing, but instead hides His face:

“Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’

“And I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods” (Deut. 31:17-18).

One of the most prevalent “other gods” being worshipped today is the spirit of religion. Religion blinds us to the true things of God. He must hide His face from us when we pursue this false form of godliness. This was the same problem present in the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. Jesus called them the blind leading the blind.

“And Jesus said, ‘For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.’ Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, ‘Are we blind also?’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, “We see.” Therefore your sin remains’” (John 9:39-41).

Jesus frustrates and blinds religion. Religion, which boasts its haughty claim to “see”, is rendered sightless by the Son of God. Those who confess their weakness and utter dependence upon Him, they are the ones who receive sight for their blindness. The Pharisees, however, trusted in their own self-righteousness. They were so lacking in true intimacy that they could not recognize the God they claimed to worship, even when He visited them in the flesh. As the apostle Paul told the Corinthians:

“But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ” (2 Cor. 3:14).

Paul learned of his own blindness in a dramatic encounter with the Lord. In Acts 9, when he was still a Pharisee, Saul was breathing murderous threats toward the church on his way to Damascus, when suddenly the Lord appeared to him in a bright light, striking him blind for three days. When his eyes were miraculously opened and the scales fell off of them, he was a changed man.

Our vision stays sharp, and God is clearly revealed to us, not through religious exercises or activities, but through faith expressed through love. Jesus is walking through the circumstances of your life right now, but can you recognize Him?

To blind the enemy from your affairs is as simple as having the Lord revealed in those same affairs. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ that really matters, not the defeat of your adversary. You cannot have one without the other.

Have you felt blinded to the things of God? Have you experienced a season in which it seems God is hiding His face from you? This understandably leads to feelings of frustration or discouragement. This is how David must have felt when he said the following:

“Lord, why do You cast off my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me?” (Ps. 88:14).

“Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble; incline Your ear to me; in the day that I call, answer me speedily” (Ps. 102:2).

“Do not hide Your face from me; do not turn Your servant away in anger; you have been my help; do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation” (Ps. 27:9).

Consider also the lament of Job:

“Why do You hide Your face, and regard me as Your enemy?” (Job 13:20).

Many charismatic Christians would never confess their feelings of abandonment or hiddenness from God. While they prefer to maintain the talk of faith, they are unable to confess their heart’s true sense of discouragement. There are seasons in the course of every person’s life, where we feel that God has hidden Himself from us. This should not startle us nor cause us to panic. In these times when we cannot seem to feel or sense God, He is actually growing our faith and inviting us to a deeper walk of love.

If God seems more hidden from you than the enemy’s assaults, do not give up hope! Use this opportunity to grow stronger in your faith and in His everlasting love for you. The prophet Isaiah gives us keys in the hour when we feel God’s face is hidden from us. He says:

“And I will wait on the Lord, who hides His face from the house of Jacob; and I will hope in Him. Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells in Mount Zion” (Isa. 8:17-18).

In the season of hiddenness, you are not simply waiting for God to move on your behalf. This is the season where God is forging you to be a mover and a shaker. He is growing your faith so that you are no longer asking for miracles, but you become a sign and a wonder. When God was hidden from the patriarch Jacob, he wrestled and contended for the blessing. He did not give up. Sometimes your act of “wrestling” with God is as simple as resting in your faith. In the stillness before God, allow Him to draw you away to His secret pavilion:

“For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock” (Ps. 27:5)

“You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues” (Ps. 31:20).

Again, we are brought back to the secret place. Whenever your enemy cannot see you, the victory has been won. Intimacy is the Holy Spirit’s “cloaking device” that enables you to become invincible to your adversary. Once the deviant schemes of satan are exposed, he is powerless. His only refuge is the lie. Truth exposes the enemy’s weak underbelly. Let us commune with Truth. In the inner chambers of God’s heart, the brightness of His shining begins to surround you until your adversary is blinded.

Let us look at one more verse that is coming into fulfillment for the people of God, spoken through the prophet Zechariah:

“‘And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it. In that day,’ says the Lord, ‘I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness’” (Zech. 12:3-4).

We are surely coming into a day when the nations will be gathered against God’s people. But this is not a time to despair or revert to paranoia. God will move on our behalf. Perhaps there are areas of your life where you have been blinded by sin – perhaps you have given entry to the adversary on some point of error. The fact is, God loves you, even in your immaturity! As a Christian, you have been grafted into His holy city. Your sin no longer keeps you in enmity with God, but has been washed away as far as the east is from the west.

God opens His eye on Judah. Judah means praise. A people of intimate adoration draw the eye of God, and the eye of God dispels His adversaries. When He gazes at you, suddenly, your enemies become God’s enemies. The horses in this passage represent the strength and abilities of your enemies, which are struck blind. The thoughts and schemes of the adversary are likewise struck with madness.

In the bridal paradigm of this end-time church, it is God Himself who will blind the wicked one and confuse our foes. Our battle ceases to be a striving effort as we bask in His pavilions, for it is the God of peace who will soon crush satan underneath our feet.

Blinding the Eyes of the Enemy Part I

Have you ever felt that the adversary was watching your every step? Sometimes, it seems that all our best efforts get foiled, because the eye of the enemy seems to bear down on our jobs, families, ministries, relationships or finances. Opposition from the devil can often be a sign that you are moving in the right direction. But there’s no need to let that opposition turn into oppression or continual defeat!

In this teaching, I will explain some principles that will enable you not only to stay hidden from the gaze of the evil one, but to overcome those powers of darkness in one fell swoop. We will discuss the concept of blinding the enemy.

The prophet Elisha, in 2 Kings 6, had been going into spiritual transport, receiving supernatural revelation about Israel’s enemy Syria and then warning the king of Israel about it. Elisha was so effective in seeing the enemy’s plans, that the king of Syria was growing paranoid:

“Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing; and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?” (2 Kings 6:11, emphasis mine).

The enemy has no creative power of his own, but he can only counterfeit the tactics of war that God gives us. Many of us have, at one point in our Christian walk, seen the enemy try to sow division into our homes, families, churches and friendships. The enemy knows that a kingdom divided against itself will fall. But here, in this passage of scripture, we see that the prophet Elisha is fighting fire with fire. Elijah is sowing division into the enemy’s camp. The first lesson we should note here is that prophetic insight enables us to divide and conquer. Spiritual vision supersedes and cuts off any carnal attack.

“And one of (the Syrian king’s) servants said, ‘None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.’ So he said, ‘Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him.’ And it was told him, saying, ‘Surely he is in Dothan.’” (2 Kings 6:12-13, emphasis mine)

As the king set out in pursuit of Elisha, the prophet was staying in Dothan. Dothan literally means “the place of two wells.” Dothan is the place where, years earlier, Joseph had been thrown into a well by his jealous brothers. Because Joseph had favor and gifting on his life, he was persecuted by those who did not. In the same way, Elisha’s gift made a way for him, but it also brought on the heat of his foes! If you want favor, breakthrough and success from God, there will also be turbulence that comes with it. People will try to shoot you down, even those close to you.

Dothan is not the place of one well, but two wells. There are many layers of symbolism in this. Although Joseph saw this well as a path to prison, the well was actually a path to the palace. We must always keep in mind that the trials, persecutions and temporary afflictions we face can be blessings in disguise. Your well can be the back door to promotion. You may see one well, but God sees another. What satan means for evil, God intends for good. When you feel the enemy plunging you into a pit, ask God to give you prophetic vision to see the situation through His eyes.

Little did they know, as the Syrians came to capture Elisha, that they were actually being delivered into his hands for utter defeat.

“Therefore (the Syrian king) sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city. And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, ‘Alas, my master! What shall we do?’

“So he answered, ‘Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’ And Elisha prayed, and said, ‘Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.’ Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, ‘Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.’ And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

“Now Elisha said to them, 'This is not the way, nor is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.' But he led them to Samaria. So it was, when they had come to Samaria, that Elisha said, 'Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.' And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw; and there they were, inside Samaria!” (2 Kings 6:14-20, emphasis mine)

The Lord handed the entire Syrian army to Elisha on a silver platter. Elisha had faith to see that the Lord’s heavenly hosts were far mightier than those arrayed against him. As he prayed, Elisha also had authority to impart prophetic vision to his servant. And beyond that, he even had the ability to blind the entire enemy army, and then later restore their sight.

All believers are given a mandate to open the eyes of the spiritually blind. We are called to “open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house” (Isa. 42:7). But prophets also carry authority to close eyes.

Isaiah 6:10 reads:

“Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed.”

This is a harsh assignment for the Lord to give his prophet! This curse of spiritual blindness still lingers over the eyes of many today. But Jesus said of those who believe: but blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it (Matt. 13:16-17).

Our assignment is not to blind people, but to blind principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (see Eph. 6:12). Even Elisha re-opened the eyes of the Syrians, after he had surrendered them to the king of Israel. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but our spiritual enemies should definitely be blinded. As we saw in the case of Elisha, God will often send angels to administer this blindness. Consider a similar example in the case of two angels who visited Lot in Sodom. The depraved men of that city sought to have homosexual relations with them: so they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door. But the men (angels) reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door (Gen. 19:9-11).

The principle of blinding your enemies is no more than being hidden by God. The key to staying hidden by God is to stay in the place of intimacy with Him – to remain in the secret place.

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.’

“Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

“You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked.

“Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; for He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways” (Ps. 91:1-11).

We love to consider these blessings of Psalm 91. Many people quote them and stand on these promises consistently. But it is one thing to quote the scriptures. It is another thing to do the scriptures! There is a major prerequisite to all this blessing, protection and favor promised here. Don’t waste your breath quoting the benefits of Psalm 91 if you are not doing your part: dwelling in the secret place of the Most High! God does not hide you from harm because you know these verses, but because you have made the Lord, who is you refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place.

The practice of the presence of God is the most imperative thing we could ever do. Not just popping our heads in the door of the secret place occasionally when it benefits us. We must make Him our dwelling.