Derek Prince - Don't Let Lucifer's Downfall Become Yours
This is an excerpt from: War In Heaven And Earth - Part 1
Now, how did this conflict come about? What's its origin? The Bible tells us certain things, it doesn't tell us other things. It's a mistake to try to know more than the Bible tells, but it's very important that we do find out what the Bible has to say. So, I'm going to turn now to Isaiah, chapter 14, and in my particular translation the passage I'm looking at begins at verse 12, and it's entitled or headed: The Fall of Lucifer. So, these are prophetic words described to a certain angelic being who turned in rebellion against God. How are you fallen from heaven. That's the heaven of God's presence. O, Lucifer, son of the morning! How are you cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!
Now, we get the motivation of Lucifer's rebellion. Let me say of course Lucifer's present name is Satan. Satan means the adversary. The Greek word the devil means the slanderer. So, Satan is the adversary of God and man, the slanderer. Remember that anybody who slanders is doing the devil's job and unfortunately it does occur in churches. Now, let's look at the motivation because this is very important, we learn something extremely helpful for each of us and all of us. For you have said in your heart.
This is the motivation of Lucifer's rebellion against God, and five times it starts with the words: I will. So, the root of rebellion is the will set in opposition to the will of God. He says: I will ascend into heaven. And he's planning to go higher. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit in the Mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. But when the English says like, the Hebrew can equally well be translated, I will be equal to the Most High, so, the origin of Lucifer's rebellion was personal ambition and pride and I would like to point out to you that is the main source of trouble in the church today. It's personal ambition.
I often ask myself, how many ministers in the church are motivated by passion for souls, and how many are motivated by personal ambition? To have the biggest church, the largest mailing list, all the largest meetings and so on. And I can tell you from personal experience and observation over a long period of time many sections of the church are riddled with personal ambition. In my personal opinion, this is the greatest single problem in the church, personal ambition in the ministry. And we find that its origin was in the heart of Lucifer, or Satan himself. Five times he set his will against the will of God. Five times he planned to exalt himself. I have a little radio series about the whole problem of pride, which is called: The Way Up Is Down.
If you want to go higher you have to go lower, it's very interesting because this has been circulated in various countries. It's translated into German, I'm sorry to tell you good Americans that on the whole the response has not been enthusiastic. The thing that surprises me is in Germany it's been a best-seller. I can't explain it, but we need to take heed to that fact The Way Up Is Down. If you want to go higher you have to go lower.
And you see, Satan has implanted his personal ambition, his self-promotion, in the hearts of all who will accept it. And that doesn't mean that the church is excluded. In fact, the church is the place where Satan most desires to implant this kind of personal ambition. And then it says: yet you should be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit. It really is true, the way up is down. If you want to go up, go down. The lower down you go, the higher up you end. Don't let Satan deceive you by planting personal ambition in your heart because it was his downfall and it can be your downfall too.