The Inoculation

I was watching an episode of House where boy needed a bone marrow transplant, or he would die. His brother was going to be the donor, but he had some kind of infection. Because of the infection, the brother couldn’t donate his bone marrow. The immune system of the boy with leukemia was compromised by the radiation treatments, and receiving the bone marrow with infection would have killed him. The brother’s infection needed to be destroyed by antibiotics first, and only then could he help his brother.


I saw a huge spiritual parallel in this episode.


There will come a time in your Christian walk when you will struggle. That’s just a fact. Nobody is on top of their game all of the time. If they tell you otherwise, then they are either deceiving you, deceiving themselves, or just don’t have a clue. We are called to ‘fight the good fight of faith’ (1 Timothy 6:12). If you are in a fight, you are going to take some shots. The thrill of victory or the agony of defeat both require a refilling of the spiritual tank. Our spiritual ‘immune system’ tends to run low, no matter the outcome of the battle.


There is only one way to boost your ‘spiritual immune system’: through your personal devotional time with God. Reading the Word, personal worship and prayer are the things that serve as an inoculation against depression, weariness, stagnation and vulnerability to the voice of the enemy. Why did satan wait until after Jesus had fasted for 40 days to attack Him (Luke 4)? Because he perceived Him to be at a point of weakness. (Wrong-o!). What satan didn’t realize was that during the 40 days when Jesus was denying His flesh, He was filling His spirit through prayer and worship. This is what enabled Him to stand against the wiles of the devil (Ephesians 6:11) and what enabled Him to resist him (James 4:7). The bible says that after his unsuccessful attempts, satan “[temporarily] left Him [that is, stood off from Him] until another more opportune and favorable time (Luke 4:13, Amplified).


Your enemy knows the “opportune and favorable time” to cause you to stumble. It is during these times of struggle, frustration, and stagnation. He also comes during times of emotional trauma. He will use “that little internal voice” to tear you down from the inside – those ‘thoughts’ that roll around on the inside of your head when you are alone, trying to convince you using whatever words necessary to get you to move out of your assigned place. He will use circumstances to frustrate you and try to get you to use intellect and reason to make bad decisions. Much of the time, he will use the voices of people – both Christian and non-Christian – to convince you through human wisdom or a religious spirit that you will be much better off if you listen to them. Liar, liar, LIAR! You don’t think that the enemy can use a Christian to try to deter you out of the will of God? You’ve never read Matthew 16:23 then, when Jesus said to Peter, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s (NIV).” Even the great apostle Peter was the voice of satan to Jesus, trying to deter him out of the will of God just because things were hard. These voices are to be likened to the brother who had the infection, but wanted to try to ‘save’ the sick boy. The ‘infection’ here is being led by the flesh or soul; by human intellect or reason. When well-meaning people try to ‘heal’ you through being a ‘human wisdom’ donor, they end up infecting the ones they are trying to ‘help’. Some of them mask this human wisdom and label it as discernment or prophetic insight. BEWARE!

Much of the time, satan will make sure that someone comes along to 'vocally reinforce' the little voice in your head. Don't fall for it!

Daily relationship with God is the ONLY inoculation against such folly. Notice in Luke 4 that the Spirit led Jesus, He didn’t drive Jesus. Jesus’ responses were not based on being driven by His circumstances, but on the Word of God. Our responses should be based on the same. My pastor always says that the problem with being on the mountain top is that you think you will always be there; likewise, the problem with being in a valley is that you think you will always be there. Neither of these is true; therefore, making important life-decisions while you are on the mountain top or in the valley is a HUGE mistake! A spiritually mature person will not advise you to make a move based on your circumstances or how you feel. If someone does advise you in this way, chances are they have a personal motive that does not include what is best for you.


Be careful, little ears, what you hear. Listening to the wrong voices is spiritual suicide. Dance with the one who brought you! Don’t get caught up in your feelings or your circumstances, because they will almost always drive you out of the will of God.