More spiritual weapons for our battles

Sometimes the circumstances of our lives seem defeating.  But God plans for our success.  God works all things to our good, even bad situations (Rm 8:28). This knowledge can actually arm us with spiritual weapons to face the very enemy that seeks to defeat us with condemning thoughts and words.  If we believe God is working to our good, then we will trust Him.  When we trust the Lord for our outcome, we place our confidence in His capability instead of in our own nature, which is prone to failure.

Satan, our enemy, is the accuser of the brethren.  He often causes us to stumble into doubt by accusing us.  He blocks our growth by accusing us.  He prevents us from being effective by accusing us.  If we examine the thoughts we have during any spiritual battle, they are full of accusations, innuendos, and other wrong thoughts to make us back away from defeating him.  Truth be told, satan knows that we have a more powerful ally than he does and that if we overcame doubt and fear, our faith would cause us to overcome him.  To defeat satan in our spiritual battles, we need to get our eyes off of our weaknesses, and onto what God is doing in us.

“For those He foreknew He predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son.” (M 8:29)

We are being molded into Jesus’ image by those very trials and spiritual battles we go through.  When we realize that God’s eyes are on what we will become, we can have confidence that we will have a good outcome. God has invested His love and great care in making us into the image of His Son.  Knowing the purpose of God, and His dedication to bringing that purpose into being is another weapon for our spiritual battles. We may get weary along the way, but God has not gotten weary of our skirmishes yet. He Who began the work in us, will finish it (Phil 1:6). What God is doing in us? Making us into the great image of His Son.

We need to have faith in God’s plan, for it has strategy that will defeat our enemy. One thing our faith should encompass is the belief that God has justified us.  Even the scriptures ask who condemns us (Rom 8:33).  God is not in the business of delegating our condemnation to satan, or to other people.  Technically, since Jesus covered us with His blood and justified us through His sacrifice on the cross, no spirit or person has the business of condemning us. In fact, one way we overcome our enemy is by Jesus’ blood, covering our sins. We also overcome satan by the testimony of God’s work . . .  working “all things to good” in our lives (Rev 12:11). When the enemy uses condemnation to defeat us, we must meet it with faith that we are not condemned, but in fact, are justified. 

We also should have faith in God’s love for us.  His love endures through our battles and into all the unknown problems, trials, and weaknesses we have yet to face in the future.  What brought us to the point we are at today and fills our present life with spiritual strife cannot separate us from God’s love. The failures that we fear are going to fill our future cannot separate us from God’s love (Rm 8:33-34).  He is dedicated to loving us, and that is a very power weapon to use against the accuser when he condemns us. It takes great faith to believe God’s purely good intentions for you over satan’s rotten accusations.  Therefore, abiding in God’s love for us is one of our greatest acts of faith and will deflect satan’s fiery darts of accusation (Eph 6:16).

If the circumstances of your life have made you feel defeated, do not give up.  Take up the spiritual weapons available to you in the Lord.  Have trust and confidence in the Lord and what He is doing in you.  Let His love cover you. And remember the provision He has made for you through Jesus’ blood, to justify you against satan’s condemnation.  When you have done all this, stand.  Your faith will defeat your spiritual enemies.  Amen.

Weapons of our warfare: Innocence and Shrewdness

The Bible tells us that, when we are amongst wolves, we are to be innocent, or harmless, like a dove . . . but at the same time we should be shrewd like a snake (Mt 10:16). Today I’m writing about innocence, and being shrewd.

If you have been wronged by someone, you might wonder how to return to innocence afterward.  Is it by trust . . . is it by mercy? How does one not accuse those who have accused him?  Is it by love . . . forgiveness? It is clear that we are to be “wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil.” (Rom 12:16:19) However, when we are experiencing the pain of being wounded, is it possible to turn back the hands of time to when we had a pure heart towards the person who now wounded us? Innocence seems like a fragile and fleeting state.

How does such a fragile thing such as our innocence help us when we are getting wounded? Our innocence is part of God’s spiritual warfare.  The word innocence also means “harmless”, and “unmixed.” The goodness we feel towards people, when unmixed by bad feelings, is a force that overcomes the evil in others. To be innocent, a person needs to have purely good intentions.

“Do not be overcome with evil but overcome evil with good.” (Rm 12:21).

As Christians, we value the innocence that keeps our intentions “harmless” and overcomes the evil that besets us in the form of spiritual battles. Our enemy’s weapons make us feel violated.  When a person close to our hearts wrongs us, the pain of violation is even greater. The temptation to strike back at them grows with the deepening of our pain.

What our enemy wants is for us to use his weapons also.  Satan wants us to speak against the one accusing us, or to make ourselves look good and the other person look bad.  He wants us to pretend we are friends and then say bad things against people behind their backs. However, the pain of our wounds is not what brings satan his victory; his victory comes when we join his army and use his weapons against others. His weapons cause wounds to fester into bitterness, destroying love.  When satan can use Christians against each other to defeat their love of one another, he has won his victory.  It is time to take action before this happens. When we find ourselves on the offensive in a spiritual battle, God has weapons that are greater than our enemy’s. 

“We do not war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world, on the contrary, they have divine powers to demolish strongholds.” (2 Cor 10:4).

Here are some of our Godly weapons: Bless our enemy (Rm 12:14); Pray for our enemies (Mt 5:44); Love our enemies (Mt 5:44); Overcome evil with good (Rm 12:21).

Using these weapons comes contrary to our nature. We need God’s grace to endure the pain of satan’s assault on us through others. It is the Lord himself Who will enable us to bless, pray, love, and overcome.   God’s weapons not only effect the person who has wronged you, but they protect your own heart from bitterness and hatred.

Which weapons we use, satan’s or the Lord’s, is a choice on our part. We don’t have to dig up all the dirt on the one who wronged us, for it is God who keeps score and ultimately judges all men (Rm 12:19). We can be innocent of discovering the full extent of wrong they have done, and their motives for doing wrong. We can be innocent, and wise at the same time.

When we are innocent like a dove, we should be shrewd, or wise at the same time.  We need to not mix our weapons.  If we give mercy, let us do so cheerfully (Rm 12:8), not mixing in cruel barbs when the other person’s defenses are down.  I’ve found that the best way to get to this innocence is by praying blessings on the one who hurt me.  It helps me to let go of the incident, and finally return to love.  Love is the vehicle for goodness and without it all our good is superficial and insincere.

Since our faith works through love (Gal 5:6), we can do great exploits for the Lord when we love the one who wronged us.  One hindrance to this work is to doubt that the Lord will act according to our prayers.  If we pray for peace with the one who wronged us but retain thoughts of war, we are double-minded.  Our thoughts of war may come from doubting God because we have not seen our prayers answered in the past, at least, not according to our understanding.  If you have no victory in your prayer life, look at what might be defeating your faith. 

Spiritual battles need a defensive strategy as well. Jesus also warns us to “be on your guard” against those who persecute us. (Mt 10:17). He cautions us to be strategic when we are amongst those who would hurt us.

“Do not give to dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.” (Mt 7:6).

Sharing Christian lessons or personal confidences are examples of giving valuable things to dogs and pigs. Sharing with those who do you harm will not restore a relationship . . . it only opens you up for more wounding. Sharing will not cause a man whose heart is full of satan’s weapons to lay them down in repentance; he will only see your friendship and renewed trust as personal weakness.   It is by praying, blessing, and doing the works of love that the evil in a man’s heart can be overcome. These are the weapons God gave us, and by using them wisely we can remain in the state of innocence.

I hope this lesson will help those of you experiencing pain from spiritual warfare and encourage you to pray, bless and love.  God bless, Helen

  

How our lives look

Yesterday I was flying home from my vacation and found it an excellent opportunity to just listen, and pray.  No interruptions.  On the ride to my home I heard the following;

“Many do not think I care about what their lives look like to their enemy.  They do not believe Me for blessings.  A defeated life does not glorify Me.”

It is a true saying that many of us Christians get so caught up in our own sanctifications that we think first about crucifying ourselves to our old nature . . . and might not think at all about how the Lord loves us or how He would like to be glorified by blessing us.  What the world sees, and what the enemy sees, may not look like a fruitful blessed life because of our own attitudes towards blessing. And, we will lack endurance if we do not believe God’s personal promises pertain to this life as well as eternity.

Kind David said, “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” (Ps 27:13) His life is an example of believing for God’s blessings, and for success against his enemy while he lived.

David was not the only man who believed it was important for our lives to look successful. Moses believed that, for God to look good to the nations on the earth, His people needed to also look good, and have success against their enemies. Moses appealed to God’s ultimate goal of displaying Himself through His people, asking the Lord to consider how eliminating them would look to their enemy, the Egyptians;

 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? ¹² Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people.(Ex 32:11-13).

This event is know most famously for the fact that God can change His mind.  But just as important is the fact that God wants to be glorified, to be made to look good, by how He treats His people.

God not only wants to look good to the nations, but He also wants to make us to look good.  Here is what Paul said about our glorification on this earth;

²⁹ For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

³⁰ Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (Rom 8:29-30).

God also wants to put our enemy and his rulers in their place by causing us to “look good.”  An example of us is found in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, which reads;

His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms (Eph 3:10).

You may gather from this verse that our heavenly Father is proud to display us, the Church, to the evil spirits who rebelled against serving Him. Our lives should show our enemy that God has chosen us. David says; “Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.” (Ps 86:17). The favor God puts on us is a token of His goodness that tells the enemy we are loved, and that our God will win His battles.

Our blessings may be spiritual, or they may be physical.  God’s personal promises to us vary and are as unique as each one of us are.  Let us be certain of this; God is His word, and He intends on bringing His promises to pass.  And God is good; He cares about our lives and will bless them. What should the enemy see in our lives?  The goodness of the Lord resting upon us.  Amen.

armor of God

I once had a dream about a spiritual battle.  The battlefield was littered with bodies, and only a few soldiers were standing.  They had on “dough boy” helmets from a past war and stood motionless until the enemy launched his weapons against them.  They then fell to the field and became a casualty in the war. The enemy’s weapons were not bullets.  The enemy had defeated these soldiers by catapulting bodies at them from afar.

In this dream, the soldiers were Christian believers and their enemy was satan.  Satan’s weapons were the accusations he brings in one believer about another.  The enemy was defeating Christians through slander, malice, and gossip, among other things.  It was the power of words, wrongly spoken, that brought the believers to defeat.

In Ephesians 6 we are told that our battle is not against people, but against the powers belonging to satan.  Paul admonishes us to “Put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, after you have done everything, to stand.” (Eph 6:10-13).   The soldiers in my dream did not have to be defeated by words.  And the other men who were catapulted towards them did not have to be in satan’s camp, to be ensnared into his evil schemes against believers.  This could have been avoided if both groups of believers had put on the armor of God.

Paul describes the armor God as truth, righteousness, the preparation (or readiness) that comes from the Gospel of Peace, faith, salvation, the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, and prayer. (Eph 6:14-18).  If we, as believers, love the truth, we will not invent lies against others.  If we fail to be righteous, we will not receive slander from the Accuser of the Brethren against us, nor against our brethren, for Christ is our righteousness and washes us in His blood when we confess our shortcomings. We can pray for our brother who is failing, and through our fellowship and ministry, he will be strengthened instead of falling into disuse and unbelief (which is satan’s plan).

The readiness, or preparation that comes from the gospel of peace is most important to this battle.  If we sincerely desire to walk in peace with others we will not be tempted to war against them. When a brother wounds us with an accusation from the enemy’s camp, we will still stand and be effective in his life if we care about his outcome more than the temporary relief that comes by telling him off. Rage seems to embolden us to put our enemy down, but in fact, it puts us in our enemy’s camp where our words will be used as his weapons against others.

Readiness implies that the person who is ready has been through some sort of training, or preparation.  In this case, obedience to the gospel of peace . . . the good news that God loves and wants to have peace with us.  To prepare for this we must fortify our minds against the accusations that come against us and others. One of our greatest weapons is found in carrying out rightful thinking; thinking on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, and praiseworthy (Phil 4:8). This cannot be used just when we are attacked, but must be practiced in our own minds as soon as accusations come there.  If we think about the good in our brother, and pray for him, we will not be defeated in spiritual warfare when confronted by accusations.

Faith is required on our part in order to proceed with our good thoughts towards those who speak evil against us. Not faith in our good outcome, but faith that the weapons we have been given will be effective in keeping us from the evil one and will bring us personally into victory.  We may not see our accuser’s victory, nor be able to reconcile him to God.  But our armor, and weapons from God will allow us to stand and not become a casualty ourselves.  This faith leads us into Christ-likeness as opposed to remaining in our own nature. The fleshly nature likes to learn juicy “truthes” about others and develops an appetite for gossip.  Christ’s nature seeks to love others, and restore those who are unwittingly wandering into satan’s camp.  His victory for us includes leading the weak to strength and capturing them for Himself.

There is more to be said about spiritual warfare but not room enough in this lesson.  God bless you this week and take care to pray for others, maintaining the practice of a good thought-life towards all.  Amen.

Spiritual Warfare

Dear readers,
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Thanks for your prayers.  I’ve been praying for quite a while to know more about spiritual warfare.  I’ve read many books on the subject but just recently had 2 dreams where satan flew at me from a distance.  He seemed to be targeting my mind, and we know that our enemy intends to make our minds a playground for tormenting thoughts!

Tonight I read how God wants to lead us in “triumphal procession” (2 Cor 2:14). It is in this victory walk with the Lord that our fragrance goes out to others to bring them life.  What we do actually smells good, instead of stinking J Putting this verse in context it seems that the fragrance we have in victory comes from the Life that lives inside of us because of the death we are experiencing in that same place.  In other words, suffering brings the sweet smell, if we let it.

Since I was targeted in my mind, I read about what our thought-life should be; thinking what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, and praiseworthy (Phil 4:8).  These things are part of the weapons of our warfare. Obedience to these disciplines of the mind builds a strong arsenal inside of us. It prevents us from having buttons that can be pushed . . . or as Jesus said before his betrayal, satan is coming but he has nothing in us.  Obedience to Phil 4:8 prepares us to win.

I also have to have the full armor of God on so that I can stand in the day of evil (Eph 6:10-18). Truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace (not strife), faith, salvation, the Holy Spirit/Word of God, prayer and alertness need to be my armor or satan’s thoughts will defeat me.  Prayers are meant to be powerful.  In Rev 8:3-5 we read about the power released as a result of the prayers that have incense mixed with them.  It is hard to get to the point of praying when we’re hurting.  In fact, satan sends many things our way so that we will give up and not care about the outcome of the people who cause us pain.  But if we stop caring, we still experience torment, pain, and a feeling that we’re fighting our battles under our own strength.  In caring we carry the fragrance of Christ on our lives and His Life is shown through ours.  God’s intended outcome is victory.  Though each person we pray for has a personal choice to make, I see by these scriptures that we are the ones presenting the good choice to them. Those who fight against us then smell the fragrance of Christ and see His Life at work in us.

Seems hard.  I am confronted with my weakness and undisciplined mind daily.  But there are enough challenges in life that I get lots of practice making choices about how to think, and how to pray. I am sensing that this is the training we all need before each battle.  Let us keep our mind on the victory.  It will be a sweet day when it comes.  Amen.