The biggest enemy of the gospel
The biggest enemy of the gospel is neither the flesh, nor the world nor the devil; it's our “self” and our unwillingness to give up our self life and embrace the glorious life in Christ.
What factors hinder us from embracing the gospel and the Kingdom of God wholeheartedly? We’ve heard about the three enemies of the gospel; the flesh, the world and the devil. These three definitely exist; but there is a fourth one, which is bigger than these three. The biggest hindrance to the gospel is also the most hidden among the four and it stagnates the growth of 95% or more believers at spiritual infancy. Let's unlock this powerful and hidden enemy of the gospel and expose it. It's time to come out of ignorance, get to know our biggest enemy and subdue it.
What’s it called?
Lord Jesus introduced this enemy in Matthew 16:24-27: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” This is what He meant; if we desire to preserve our lives governed by “self”, we will lose a blessed and glorious life in Christ. If we are willing to give up our “self” life, along with its plans, ambitions and goals, we will find an abundant life powered by the divine nature of Christ. The biggest enemy of the gospel is neither the flesh, nor the world nor the devil; it's our “self” and our unwillingness to give up our self life and embrace the glorious life in Christ.
Apostle Paul declared that he overcame the biggest hindrance to the gospel in Galatians 2:20 when he said “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”. He crucified his “self” along with Christ and stopped living by it and allowed Christ to live in him. He chose not to live the life he wanted by giving up all his personal ambitions, goals and plans in exchange of the plans of God. Hence he could say “Christ lives in me”. 2000 years later, we struggle to let Christ live in us, because we are unwilling to crucify our “self”.
The wheat and the weed
What did Lord Jesus mean when he said deny yourself? What does “self”’ mean in the Bible? We must first look at four related biblical concepts, which are building blocks to construct a definition of the biblical “self”
- The parable of the wheat and the weed
- Our sinful heart and our Christ-like heart
- Our “True Self” and “Ego Self”
- “Christ in us” and “SIN in us”
The biblical concept of “self” is built on the foundation of the parable of the wheat and the weed. Let’s take a fresh look at this parable in Matthew 13:24-30. “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. The owner’s servants came to him and said, “Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ “ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up? “ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’ ”
This parable is about how God created human beings. The “field” refers to the world and hence the parable applies to all human beings. As part of the creation, God deposited within us a good seed; therefore each of us has first received a good and glorious seed from God. Later the devil planted his weed within us; therefore, each of us also received an evil weed in us; both seeds will remain within us until we die. During our lifetime on Earth, God observes us carefully to see whether we choose the good seed he has sown or the weed that the devil has planted within us.
Whichever seed we choose to live by, will sprout in us. If we make our choices based on the seed of God, it will grow into a good and glorious tree within us. If we make our choices based on the weed, it will also grow into a monstrous evil tree within us. Those who cultivate the good seed and allow it to blossom into a magnificent and fruitful tree are the sons of the kingdom. Those who cultivate the weed and allow it to grow into a harmful and evil tree are the sons of the wicked one (the devil). The harvest in the parable refers to the end time described in the book of Revelation. God will send out his angels and they will segregate the sons of the kingdom and the sons of the wicked one. While the sons of the kingdom will enter God's Kingdom, the sons of the wicked will be cast into a furnace.
Based on the choices we make during our life on earth we may either end up in a furnace or in God’s kingdom. Whichever seed we cultivate within us will determine our destiny. If we foster the growth of the glorious seed of God in us, we will end up in God’s kingdom; if we foster the weed and become an evil and wicked person, we will end up in a furnace.
Those who cultivate the good seed and allow it to blossom into a magnificent and fruitful tree are the sons of the kingdom. Those who cultivate the weed and allow it to grow into a harmful and evil tree are the sons of the wicked one
Two identities in us
The story of our creation based on the parable of the wheat and the weed may have raised more questions.
- What does the wheat and the weed mean in real life?
- How do we nurture God’s seed or the devil’s seed within us?
- How does one become a son of the kingdom and not end up as a son of the wicked one?
Let’s understand this parable in the context of our lives.
When we were born into this world, we were born with the good seed that God deposited within us. We were powered by his glorious seed in the initial few years of our life on earth. The harsh realities of this sinful world kept making us increasingly distressed and over a period of time, we reached a point where we could not bear with it anymore. This led to the formation of an artificial identity, which concealed our true identity and took on the character-traits which were necessary to cope with our unbearable circumstances. As a child, we switched over to this new identity and continued to live in it for an indefinite period of time.
As part of this early life transition, the original glorious seed of God was withdrawn into the background and got caged and we started growing up with the newly formed “weed” of the devil. As time passed, we forgot about the wonderful person we were in the initial few years of our life on earth. Let's call the identity that sprang from the glorious seed of God, "True Self" and the identity that emerged from the weed, "Ego Self”. Each of us has a "True Self," which emerged from the good seed of God, and an "Ego Self," that emerged from the weed that the devil planted.
Our Two hearts
While all human beings have two identities within them, those who put their trust in Christ also have access to two hearts. We received our first heart in our mother’s womb and the second one, when we were born again.
Christ and Sin in us
So far we have seen that
- We have 2 identities within us.
- We also have two hearts and each heart operates in its respective nature.
Now let us look at how these two identities and natures relate to each other.
Each identity operates with its compatible nature. The "True Self" blends with the new heart God has deposited within us and the divine nature of Christ. Similarly the "Ego Self" works with the sinful heart and the sinful nature that proceeds out of it. The divine nature of God cannot come forth out of our Ego Self and the sinful nature cannot emanate out of our True Self. In other words, “the divine nature of Christ is exclusive to our True Self and the sinful nature is exclusive to our Ego Self”. I call this the law of exclusivity.
The parable of the wine and the wineskin illustrates this law. “No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins”. This means that God will not pour out his divine nature into our “Ego Self” because it is powered by the seed of the devil. The divine nature of Christ can be poured out only into our “True Self”, which is powered by the seed of God. Ego Self can be thought of as a container of sinful nature and the True Self as a container of the divine nature of Christ.
The only way our two identities and two natures relate to one another is as follows.
- True Self powered by the divine nature of Christ, which the apostle Paul calls “Christ in us” in Colossians 1:27
- Ego Self powered by the sinful nature, which apostle Paul calls the “sin living in us” in Romans 7:17.
Two trees within us
Now that we have understood the parable of the wheat and the weed, our sinful heart and Christlike heart, the Ego Self and True Self, “Christ in us” and “Sin in us”, we are ready to define the biggest enemy of the gospel. The biggest hindrance to the gospel is our Ego Self, which is powered by the sinful nature, producing ungodly behavior within us.
Ego Self and True Self has its distinctive character traits and behavioral patterns. Lord Jesus illustrates this in Luke 6:43-45 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of”.
The “good tree” is our "True Self" which sprang from the good seed of God and it brings out good things from within us. The “bad tree” is our "Ego Self" which sprang from the weed and it brings out evil from within us
The “good tree” is our True Self which sprang from the good seed of God and it brings out good things from within us. The “bad tree” is our Ego Self which sprang from the weed and it brings out evil from within us. Our behavior and words reflect the seed we operate in. A “good man” is someone who lives by the True Self and operates in the divine nature of Christ and he brings out good things from the good stored up within him. An “evil man” is someone who lives by his Ego Self and operates in the sinful nature and he brings out evil things out the evil stored up in him. When we live by our True Self and the divine nature of Christ, our words and behavior reflect the nature of God and when we switch to our Ego Self and operate in the sinful nature, our words and behavior reflect the nature of the devil.
Those who give into the Ego Self and allow it to grow into a giant are the sons of the wicked one and those who live by their True Self and grow in the likeness of Christ are the sons of the kingdom. Depending on the choices we make, we will either end up in the kingdom of God or will be thrown into a furnace. Why is the Ego Self the biggest enemy of the gospel? Because our destiny is determined based on our choices against or in favor of the Ego Self.
Discern the identities
What are the evil things that come out of the evil that is stored up in our Ego Self and what are the good things that come out of the good stored up in our True Self? Let’s look at the distinctive character traits and behavioral patterns of both. By observing our behavior, we can discern which identity we are living by at any given point in time.
Ego Self | True Self |
|---|---|
In relation to others | |
Thinks of oneself more than one ought to | Value others above himself |
Constantly in need of admiration | Eager to appreciate others |
Believes others are inferior | Values and respects people from all walks of life |
Lacks empathy for others | Feels empathetic towards others |
Inability to put up with other’s weaknesses | Can bear with other’s weakness for an extended period of time |
Strong sense of entitlement | Willing to relinquish one's entitlement if necessary |
Poor emotional intelligence | Higher emotional intelligence |
In relation to God | |
God feels distant and far away in heaven | Can feel intimate with God |
Can’t rejoice in the Lord | Can rejoice in the Lord |
Cannot be led by the Holy Spirit | Can be led by the Holy Spirit |
Relies on the mind to understand the Scriptures | Receive biblical revelation in their spirits |
Questions God, gets angry with God, murmurs against God occasionally | Aligns to God perfectly. Always grateful to God |
In relation to the spiritual realm | |
Does not have access to the spiritual realm | Can navigate and operate in the spiritual realm |
Zero spiritual discernment | Increasingly sharper spiritual discernment |
No spiritual authority | Gains increasing spiritual authority over time |
Can’t resist the tiniest demon | Can engage in spiritual warfare |
Personal life | |
Takes complete ownership over different areas of one’s life | Can trust God like a child and does not feel compelled to take ownership |
Feels the need to be in control | Can live under uncertainty knowing God is in control |
Plans every step of the way ahead of time | Can live one day at a time and leave details to be worked out by God |
Not in touch with own feelings | Increasingly aware of own feelings |
Zealous about religious traditions | Respects religious traditions for the sake of others |
Bosses over subordinates | Empowers subordinates |
Anchored to this world and its affairs | Anchored to the Kingdom of God and its affairs |
Release of our True Self
Even though our “Ego Self” is the biggest hindrance to the gospel, it is also the most hidden among the four; why? It's because after we made the transition from our True Self to our Ego Self during our childhood, we have been living by our Ego Self for decades and in the process, our True Self has been rejected, silenced, secluded, suppressed and caged as we grew older. A vast majority of us are unaware of the biggest hindrance to the gospel, because our True Selves remain within its cage and we are not even aware of its existence.
The illustration of the kernel of wheat falling onto the ground and dying in John 12:24 primarily refers to the death of Lord Jesus on the cross. Since we must also pass through a similar death and burial to enter resurrection life, this illustration also refers to the death of our Ego Self and release of our True Self. “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”. What happens to the wheat when it falls on the ground? Before a wheat seed sprouts, it undergoes imbibition, where it absorbs water, triggering a series of biochemical reactions. This leads to the activation of enzymes that break down stored starch into usable sugars, providing energy for the embryo. The seed coat then cracks open, and the root emerges first, followed by the shoot containing the leaves and stem.
Just like the kernel of wheat must fall on the ground and die, our Ego Self must die and our True Self must break out of its cage before the life of God within us can be released. Until our True Self breaks out of its cage, the power of God is constrained within us; the potential to grow into a spiritual giant and conquer the enemies of the gospel is concealed within us. Without the release of our True Self, growth beyond spiritual infancy is impossible.
A vast majority of believers in Christ around the world today cannot grow beyond spiritual infancy because their True Selves are confined within a cage and their lives are dominated by their Ego Selves. This makes growth in Christ impossible and we remain without access to resurrection power. To break out of decades of stagnation at spiritual infancy, our Ego Self must be put to death and our True Selves must be released out of its cage.
Until our "True Self" breaks out of its cage, the power of God is constrained within us; the potential to grow into a spiritual giant and conquer the enemies of the gospel is concealed within us
Conquering Ego Self
Conquering our Ego Self can be a long journey and if we pursue it intentionally and are persistent, we can eventually achieve it. There are stages of progress we can make in our journey to conquer our Ego Self and at each stage, we respond to the God's word differently. Different conditions of our heart and how we respond to his word at various stages of conquering our Ego Self is depicted in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13.
We experience this heart before we begin our journey of conquering our Ego Self. At this stage, our True Self is trapped inside a cage and we are dominated by our Ego Self for several years or a few decades. Our Ego Self has grown and has become a giant, our heart is hardened like a stone and we exhibit narcissistic behavior. At this stage, we do not comprehend the gospel, and like the seed that fell on the pathway, our hardened heart rejects God's truths. Like the bird that took away the seed, the devil will soon take away the word that was spoken to us, and we will eventually forget what we had heard.
We experience this heart when our True Self has been released out of its cage, but it is too tiny to conquer the Ego Self. The Ego Self continues to dominate our lives and most of our decisions are made by the Ego.
In our True Selves, we embrace the gospel with joy; and Christ even gets formed within us. However, our Ego Self takes control of us and kills the Christ that was formed in us as soon as we experience some trouble or persecution because of the gospel. Since our True Self is tiny, the gospel message could not take root in us and hence Christ in us was short lived.
Our True Self has grown further, but our Ego Self is still bigger and more powerful. Even though we are making more decisions based on our True Self, our Ego still dominates. We have not matured sufficiently in Christ to draw upon his power to conquer our Ego Selves. In our True Self, we accept God's word gladly and Christ gets formed within us. Christ even grows within us a little bit. However, when our focus shifts to climbing the corporate ladder, increasing profits for our business and other affairs of this world, our Ego Self takes over and the “Christ in us” gets stifled. At this stage, we grow backward in Christ and lose the spiritual deposits within us. We soon forget the revelations we previously had from Christ, and the “Christ in us” is finally eradicated just like in the case of the seed that fell among the thorns.
We experience this heart, when our True Self grows bigger and wiser and learns to draw upon the power of Christ to subdue our Ego Self. The Ego Self begins to shrink within us and this allows us to achieve spiritual growth. Since the ego self is finally subdued, Christ grows within us without hindrances and we experience unstoppable growth in Christ just like the seed that fell on the good soil. We grow into adolescence, adulthood and finally belong to the bride of Christ.
Growing beyond infancy
As we embrace, accept and love our True Self and draw upon the power of Christ, we will live by his divine nature and will experience unstoppable growth in Christ. Once we subdue our Ego Self, we will experience growth in Christ into spiritual adolescence, adulthood, and finally we will become part of the bride of Christ. Let's take a closer look at each stage of growth.
Infancy
Until we subdue our Ego Self, Christ has no way to grow within us and we remain babes in Christ. We drink the “milk” of the word and someone more spiritual needs to interpret everything for us and spoon feed us. We hardly have the ability to hear God directly and receive guidance from the Holy Spirit.
We are easily tossed away by every wind of new teaching. We are easy prey for the false prophets and wolves that masquerade themselves as sheep. We can get easily fooled and deceived as we have zero discernment.
Adolescence
Once we have subdued our Ego Self, the door opens for us to grow into adolescence. At this stage, as long as we remain in Christ as a branch remains in the wine and Christ remains in us, we experience organic growth.
The good seed of God deposited within us and the divine nature of Christ begins to grow within us and gain power. We take the first steps to be led by the Holy Spirit and we become sensitive to his voice. We draw upon the eternal life of Christ and its power begins to manifest within us. We take baby steps of being transformed into the likeness of Christ. We begin to grow in humility and true love and all the fruit of the holy spirit begins to manifest in us.
Adulthood
We grow in our True Self further and the divine nature of Christ gets more firmly established in us and our Ego Self shrinks further. Christ in us continues to grow. We grow in spiritual authority and power. A strong foundation of Christ gets established in us and we learn to blindly trust and obey him.
Our spiritual intuition gets stronger and we hear from God more often and increasingly more areas of our life come under the direct guidance and leading of the Holy Spirit. We learn less from others and more from the Holy Spirit. We grow in spiritual maturity and we learn from our experience that the more we submit to Christ, we gain more and more spiritual authority and power. We grow further in humility and true love and the fruit of the Holy Spirit manifests more powerfully within us and the resurrection power of Christ flows through us more powerfully and frequently.
Denying self is essential
From the parable of the sower, we learned that as long as the Ego Self is the dominant identity within us, “Christ in us” always gets destroyed. Unless we subdue and render our Ego Self powerless, growth of Christ in us is impossible. Taming of our Ego Self and dying to it opens the door to spiritual growth into different levels of glory in Christ.
When we live by our Ego Self, we are powered by the sinful nature and a wicked and destructive identity grows within us. The growth of our Ego Selves within us make us children of the devil and our actions and words carry the power of destruction. Believers in Christ with a powerful Ego Self are similar to evil spirit mediums who access evil powers to damage others; both operate in the seed of the devil, channel demonic power and harm other people.
There is no room in God's kingdom for those who are powered by the Ego Self and have grown into a destructive and wicked person. Apostle Paul states in Galatians that such individuals will not inherit the kingdom of God. “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God”. Galatians 5:19-21.
Hence, even if we go to church every Sunday, speak in tongues, read the Bible everyday, prophesy, evangelize and heal others, if we continue to grow in our Ego Self, we are not disciples of Christ. Denying “self” is essential to be a true child of God. To be a true disciple of Christ, we must deny and subdue our Ego Self, die to it and operate solely in our True Self and the divine nature of Christ must emanate out of our words and actions. Only then, we can move past spiritual infancy, grow into childhood, adolescence and finally become a spiritual adult.
There is no room in God's kingdom for those who are powered by the Ego Self and have grown into a destructive and wicked person. Denying “self” is essential to be a true child of God
Son of the devil?
Is it true that if we live predominantly by our Ego Self and allow that identity to grow into a monster within us, we become a son of the devil? What about all the Bible reading we have done, all prayers we have offered, all the evangelism we have done, and everything we are doing to pursue God. Unfortunately none of it counts as long as we are powered by our Ego Self and grow in it. Let's look at some scriptures.
Why did Lord Jesus address the Pharisees as sons of the devil in John 8:42-44?. He said “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires.” This is what He meant. “I came from God and I operate in the seed of God. What I say can be understood and accepted well if you also operated in the seed of God, just like me. Since you are powered by the seed of the devil and are the sons of the devil, you don't have the capacity to understand the things of God. Unless you deny your “Ego Self” and embrace your “True Self” the principles of the kingdom can't be fully understood and implemented in your life.
Why did Apostle John say that Cain belonged to the evil one in
1 John 3:12 “Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother.” Since Cain lived predominantly in his Ego Self, and allowed that identity to grow in him, he became a child of the evil one and belonged to him.
Personal experience
After stagnating at spiritual infancy for close to 25 years, I started growing in Christ at the age of 49 and have been experiencing unstoppable growth since then
Even though I was born again at the age of 23, I could not grow in Christ and remained a babe in Christ for around two decades. Within the two decades, my Ego Self grew to a powerful giant within me.
At the age of 42, I entered into a fiery trial, the most difficult 7 years of my life. During this period, I was in strict isolation and withdrew from social gatherings. I experienced the worst humiliations, disappointments and failures of my life, during these seven years. Those who observed my life during this time thought that I was being taken for a ride by the devil. The fiery trial led me to the breaking down of my Ego Self and embracing of my True Self. A new foundation in Christ was laid and I was firmly established in Him. After stagnating at spiritual infancy for close to 25 years, I started growing in Christ at the age of 49 and have been experiencing unstoppable growth since then.
Let’s subdue our Egos
I had the privilege of personally helping a few individuals to overcome their Ego Selves and get established in their True Selves. After getting established in their True selves, they have experienced unprecedented spiritual growth; I have witnessed the Lord promoting those from smaller to higher levels of glory.
Several young people in this generation are getting firmly established in their True Selves and are achieving unprecedented spiritual growth. I look forward to seeing many more people being promoted to high levels of spiritual authority and power in the coming days.
The dark seasons of spiritual infancy and the dominance of the Ego Self are slowly going away and we are entering a glorious season of embracing our True Selves and attaining high levels of spiritual growth. Let’s embrace our True Selves and subdue our Ego Selves and allow Christ to grow in us. Let’s move past spiritual infancy, enter adolescence and move onto spiritual adulthood. Let’s grow beyond spiritual adulthood and be part of the bride of Christ.
