I have posted this article before in my former blog, but today somehow I felt urged to post it again!

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Historically Israel’s enemies had many things in common, including the fact that they were all idolaters. They worshipped gods other than the one true God. The Philistines, the Amalakites, the Moabites and all the other “ites” were people created by God but motivated to fulfill the purposes of Satan against Israel. Generation after generation, every enemy was after the same things. Here are the five common motives for their attacks on Israel: 1) Land, 2) Destiny, 3) Generational Covenant, 4) Worship and 5) Harvest.

1. LAND
God’s enemies were always after the land or territory that God’s people inhabited. If they had the land, they had its resources. If they had its resources, they had power. God is very geographically minded. He thinks multi-regionally because the whole earth belongs to Him and the fullness thereof. We, as God’s people, are supposed to redeem land spiritually and physically because it has value in the kingdom of God for today as it always has. When we take land, that land has a purpose and a destiny. Our battle starts by taking the land that we stand on. “Every place that your foot shall tread…” is not just a biblical metaphor. When we buy real estate, we own it all the way to the third heaven, and this principle holds true for us as God’s people today – individually as well as corporately.

2. DESTINY
The second thing the enemies of God’s people were out to steal was Israel’s prophetic destiny. The enemy desires to destroy corporate destiny as well as individuals’ destinies. And destiny is not necessarily something that unfolds in the future. Destiny is also in the now.

3. GENERATIONAL COVENANT
The enemy, Satan, seemed to have a long-term diabolical plot to undermine the generational covenant between God and His chosen people. His plan was to use Israel’s enemies to wipe out the people of God, the race to which the Redeemer of all humanity was to be born, so that the covenant could not be fulfilled. Then, humanity could never be rightly related to God as worshippers.

Modern-day idolatry manifests itself in multiple ways but always has the same end: to water down the purity and the power of God’s promises to us. Remember that the great performances of God’s power in generations past are all promises to our generation. If our faith is watered down with fear and hopelessness, can we really believe that God would heal us and cause us to prosper?

There is a new covenant with us now that was made through Jesus. These are promises of the cross: healing, deliverance, provision and the power to do greater things than Jesus did, among many others. God’s covenant with His people today stands as strong as it did with Israel then. The enemy knows this and is persistent in his vision to do things now to undermine and destroy the future generations and to keep us from walking in the covenant today. All of hell now stands in resistance to what God has promised us. Our enemy never ceases to plot to rob us of the very hope that is our salvation. If the voice of the Lord can be diminished in our generation to the point that there is neither honor nor respectability for His people in any given culture, and if the message of life can be watered down so that people find no hope in the gospel, the enemy is accomplishing his task. In essence, what he is doing is invading the church and bringing hopelessness to a people who in reality have been given a covenant promise by a covenant-keeping God.

4. WORSHIP
If the enemy could not destroy the people of God, the second-best plan was to put them into captivity, thereby controlling their worship. (The story of Moses and the children of Israel is a prime example of this scenario.) One of the primary purposes for praise and worship is to cover the throne of God and create a habitation that the Lord can enthrone Himself upon. The enemy has always attempted to thwart this purpose of worship.

Lucifer was the “anointed cherub that covereth the throne” of God. Within his very being he had the ability to make music. When he rebelled he said, “I will be like the Most High.” What most people don’t know is that he pulled it off. He is like the Most High; he is a counterfeit. When he was cast down, he took a third of the angels with him. He also left the throne uncovered. Therefore, God said, “I will raise up a people who will worship me, a people who will cover the throne. I will enthrone myself upon the praises of my people.” We take the place that Lucifer once had. As a result, he is so angry and jealous toward our place that he will do whatever it takes to stop us from fulfilling this purpose.

Since then it has been his purpose to make sure that we don’t walk in the reality for which we were created. Lucifer creates fads, trends and soulish excitement around releases of emotion that distract from the One who is worthy. He sets us up for fights and arguments over musical styles and preferences, he creates big music productions that simply emulate real worship and perpetuate the regurgitation of soulish displays. These things are all to steal, kill and destroy the true releases of worship that penetrate the spirit realm to change things in the heavenlies. As a result of the enemy’s devices, we now have huge musical extravaganzas that can attract man, not God. So now God is raising up a generation of people who are releasing a sound that He is attracted to. This sound is untainted by the destructive devices and obstacles that the enemy has effectively used in past generations.

5. HARVEST
Throughout the ages, harvest time has signified many things to many people. There have been songs, books, legends and poems that herald the joys of this special time of reward and reaping. There are also accounts of this time being one of devastation and weeping. The harvest has always been extremely significant to God and His people, as well as their enemies. The enemies of Israel always seemed to show up at harvest time. After God’s people had toiled, sown and nurtured their crops, the Midianites or the Philistines stood by to invade, destroy or steal the harvest that was to sustain His people through the next seasons.

Revival Harvest
Typically a harvest is the spiritual parallel to what, in our time, we know as a “revival.” The Old Testament harvests can be likened to the fields of humanity that are to be reaped into the kingdom in the end times, mentioned in the New Testament. Through the centuries, significant moves of God have caused masses of lost and purposeless souls to be saved. These revivals are the enormous yields of fruit produced from the seed sown and toil invested in a nation or area.

From the time that Jesus walked the earth to now, we have been commissioned to bring in the great spiritual harvest of souls for His kingdom. Although God’s enemies are still standing by trying to thwart the purposes of God and to steal the harvest right out of our hands, we can’t forget that He who is with us is greater than those who are against us.

God has a plan and God has provision!

An excerpt from Thunder on the Mountain: Tactical Training Manual by Ray Hughes.