Category: Be Aware of Spiritual Warfare

¹² For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. ~ Exodus 7:12 (NKJV)

Imagine the feeling of despair when Aaron and Moses saw Pharaoh’s magicians throw down their rods, and they were turned to serpents as well. I’m sure they felt fear, disappointment, and discouragement. But it didn’t stop there. That wasn’t the end of the story. Why? Because what looked like defeat. What looked like equality. Was quickly swallowed up! So, in the same way… Just like what happened there… Our God will swallow up every demonic counterfeit… And every demonic competition the enemy brings against us will get swallowed up.

Because these are the times when our God will show up and show out, and let the powers of darkness see and understand their inferiority—there’s no God like our God. We hear it all around us… The sound of the enemy encamping in our territory… coming in like sand upon the seashore because it’s harvest time… but nonetheless… God will grant us victory and our enemy defeat.

Because… when they come at us from one direction, they will flee from us in seven directions (Deuteronomy 28:7). A thousand may fall at our side, ten thousand at our right hand, but no plague, no mortal spiritual danger, will come near us! (Psalms 91:7, 11). We must let our mustard seed of faith, which should already be blooming and bearing fruit… burst out upon the enemy in glorious victory. Listen! The serpent of our God will eat up any and all serpents of the enemy. Whatever he does… whatever he mimics… will get eaten up!

You just have to have enough faith to keep going. To stand firm. To not accept defeat. The LORD will do the rest. He will fight for you. Through you. In you. You just have to show up in faith and refuse to stop. Refuse to quit.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Fight For Your Victory.

³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. ~ Matthew 6:33

I started watching Cow and Chicken the other day, because when I was a kid, my Daddy said we couldn’t watch it because it was too stupid. While I do definitely see that, it is an extremely stupid show, the more I watch, the more I realize humanity is just as stupid as these characters. See, they have a devil character in the show that constantly tricks Cow and Chicken into a mess for his own benefit and profit. At one point, he turns Cow into a slave for her milk and forces her to be a singer. In another, he tricks chicken into playing a virtual reality video game that’s damage in the game causes real damage to him in real life. The crazy part is he really isn’t even disguising himself. He’s just changing his name, yet the two (Cow and Chicken) never catch on that it’s the same guy. We as humans are exactly the same.

We don’t pay attention to who’s speaking to us. Who’s inviting us to do something. We simply focus on the “Do I want to do that thing?” “Is it something that interests me?” part. That’s why we’re constantly falling into the enemy’s trap, just like Cow and Chicken. We don’t pay attention to who’s trying to hurt us; we’re just focused on whether or not our flesh is satisfied. That’s the danger of the human nature. It’s selfish and self-serving. Its desire is what drives us to action.

This is why we are called to crucify the flesh. This is why we are called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. This is why we are to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, so that we won’t be deceived. So that we won’t be distracted. So that we will be able to see past the flesh and into the spirit.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Be Cow Or Chicken.

⁹ So Moses told the people of Israel what the LORD had said, but they refused to listen anymore. They had become too discouraged by the brutality of their slavery. ~ Exodus 6:9 (NLT)

Notice what the verse says: they refused to listen anymore. It’s not that they couldn’t. Or that they struggled to. It’s that they wouldn’t. They flat-out refused—they would not listen anymore because of their dire situation.

Sometimes your situation and your circumstances can push you so far down. You feel like you can’t even get back up. It certainly did to the Israelites. They had become too discouraged. They didn’t feel like going to church. They didn’t feel like getting involved. I’ve got too much going on, brother. You don’t know what it’s like. You haven’t experienced this before.

That is what discouragement does—but God’s promises don’t stop speaking, even though we stop listening. Discouragement is one of the enemy’s favorite weapons—because he can’t. He cannot stop God. So, he tries to stop God’s people from listening and believing, and so he brings in discouragement. Things always seem to get worse just before they get better.

For Moses, slavery worsened. The people turned on him. Pharaoh’s heart hardened. See, discouragement makes us stop listening. It makes us doubt. It spreads like gangrene. Look at how it made the Israelites react. They stopped listening. I don’t care what you have to say, Moses. I don’t want to hear it. I’m done. They had lost hope.

See, if the enemy can get you to stop listening, he can get you to stop hearing, and when you stop hearing, your faith is stolen. So, keep your eyes on Christ. Keep your eyes on your promise. Don’t let the enemy steal your hope. Keep going. Fight for the promises the LORD has given to you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stop The Enemy From Stealing Your Promises.

Matthew 7:21

²¹ Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

I recently heard a Catholic exorcist say, “God has a plan for you; so does the Devil.” This is an interesting concept. We often think about the LORD having a plan for us, but we don’t really think about the Devil having a plan for us as well.

See, the Devil’s plan doesn’t always seem evil. In fact, a lot of the time it seems good. It seems like a good idea. Like our own idea.

It could be as simple as staying home instead of going to war (King David) or numbering the kingdom (King David). These in themselves, weren’t evil, but because they weren’t a part of the LORD’s plan, they were evil and brought great consequences upon David and his household.

Sometimes the Devil’s plan looks a little more mischievous like saying you sold something for one and amount when you really sold it for another amount (Ananias and Sapphira), and as innocent as making a sacrifice instead of being obedient from the beginning (King Saul).

The Devil’s plan doesn’t always seem evil. It doesn’t even have to be an evil action. All he really wants is for us to be outside of the will of the LORD. Why? Because Jesus warned us that it’s only those who do the will of the Father that will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. So, be careful not to be distracted by the enemy. Be careful not to miss God’s plan for your life.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stay In God’s Plan.

If you’ve read a few of our devotionals, you know that The Hobbit is one of my favorite trilogies. One thing I love in the series is how Dain, Thorin’s cousin, comes prepared to battle the elves, specifically. See, the elves are masters at hand to hand combat, but they are also masters at archery. Their archers send perfectly coordinated arrows into the air at their opponent, that it takes out much of the army before the even reach the elves. Dain’s army prepared for this.

They created large arrows that spun a large chain of sorts around the arrow like a propeller. When the elves shot their arrows, the dwarves shot these special arrows that destroyed the elve’s arrows, and the large arrows impact killed many elves when it landed.

The dwarves studied their enemies. They knew their gameplan, so they prepared for it. They planned for it and when the time came, they defeated their enemy. We have to do the same.

See, we are not unaware of the Devil’s schemes. We know how he attacks. What his go to jabs are, so we have to prepare for them. We have to get ourselves ready. We train our spirit man through prayer, fasting, memorizing Scripture, worship. We memorize Scriptures that help us when we are tempted. We know what the Devil likes to attack, so we prepare for it their Scripture. That way we are never caught unaware. Never caught by surprise. Always prepared to defend ourselves no matter what comes our way.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stay Prepared.

1 Peter 5:8-9

[8] Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. [9] Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

I recently watched the 2019 live action Italian film, Pinocchio. Throughout the film, Pinocchio constantly gets himself into trouble. He gets himself into trouble right before each breakthrough. Each and every time something stops Pinocchio and he is led astray right before he can do what he needs to in order to achieve what he wants. In order to get to the next level of his life.

The enemy is just like this. He will distract us so that he can steal our harvest. So that we never overcome. So that we never reach the next level of our lives. So that he can keep us bound where we’re at forever.

Paul tells us that we aren’t unaware of the devil’s schemes. That we are to be on guard and pay attention to all that surrounds us. To all that tries to come against us, so that we might finish the race  before us.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pay Close Attention.